Table 2 Whole blood ex-vivo cytokine results at baseline for tuberculous meningitis (TBM) versus pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and healthy controls (HC).

From: Immune cell characteristics and cytokine responses in adult HIV-negative tuberculous meningitis: an observational cohort study

 

Patient group (n)

Comparison (p)

TBM

PTB

HC

TBM vs PTB

TBM vs HC

50

25

26

IFN-γ (pg/mL)

   BCG

18 (10–22)

21 (13–26)

16 (11–29)

0.317

0.742

   M. tuberculosis

16 (12–24)

16 (12–31)

14 (8–24)

0.482

0.517

   S. pneumoniae

23 (16–35)

33 (16–47)

24 (15–35)

0.070

0.622

   E. coli

15 (10–19)

14 (12–18)

16 (10–26)

0.843

0.381

   C. albicans

12 (9–21)

24 (17–29)

20 (15–32)

0.004

0.008

TNF-α (pg/mL)

   BCG

334 (142–847)

930 (538–1530)

252 (128–356)

0.004

0.119

   M. tuberculosis

359 (97–803)

466 (215–1036)

83 (50–157)

0.214

0.001

   S. pneumoniae

591 (136–1029)

1387 (1125–1668)

369 (202–647)

<0.001

0.405

   E. coli

365 (104–1242)

915 (333–1569)

391 (206–773)

0.033

0.889

   C. albicans

122 (52–426)

139 (70–259)

153 (100–217)

0.872

0.901

IL-1β (pg/mL)

   BCG

167 (79–393)

363 (204–761)

183 (106–382)

0.012

0.653

   M. tuberculosis

200 (53–449)

335 (186–619)

178 (129–260)

0.055

0.921

   S. pneumoniae

474 (134–968)

1477 (1055–1749)

721 (366–935)

<0.001

0.124

   E. coli

288 (42–473)

760 (486–1037)

667 (195–944)

<0.001

0.005

   C. albicans

95 (37–193)

106 (53–131)

104 (66–161)

0.713

0.499

IL-6 (pg/mL)

   BCG

2838 (1056–5108)

6052 (4477–9882)

2888 (1731–4750)

0.001

0.878

   M. tuberculosis

2281 (700–6104)

4000 (2986–7269)

1574 (850–2728)

0.027

0.191

   S. pneumoniae

1635 (573–3114)

2183 (1667–3047)

1530 (971–2160)

0.071

0.965

   E. coli

2068 (607–3284)

3331 (2379–5149)

2179 (1363–3024)

0.009

0.901

   C. albicans

1151 (411–2436)

1192 (486–1630)

694 (318–1101)

0.648

0.107

IL-10 (pg/mL)

   BCG

39 (12–81)

52 (44–84)

35 (24–53)

0.132

0.801

   M. tuberculosis

21 (10–59)

36 (17–44)

14 (6–25)

0.386

0.077

   S. pneumoniae

33 (15–54)

38 (21–55)

24 (13–40)

0.458

0.187

   E. coli

38 (5–67)

51 (32–89)

61 (28–73)

0.106

0.258

   C. albicans

6 (5–32)

5 (5–13)

6 (5–9)

0.457

0.383

IL-1RA (pg/mL)

   BCG

3810 (2020–6132)

4833 (3210–6209)

1597 (1290–2269)

0.160

<0.001

   M. tuberculosis

3366 (1924–6719)

4651 (2677–5980)

1645 (1325–2067)

0.351

<0.001

   S. pneumoniae

3948 (1826–5861)

6083 (4499–10546)

1728 (956–2270)

0.002

<0.001

   E. coli

3902 (1647–6512)

6901 (3789–8459)

2830 (2329–3739)

0.006

0.143

   C. albicans

1633 (1132–3071)

2334 (1751–3361)

908 (604–1578)

0.146

0.002

  1. Mann-Whitney U p-values for are shown. Data were missing for one pulmonary tuberculosis patient and one healthy control. Data are 100% complete for BCG, M. tuberculosis and S. pneumoniae, 87% for E. coli and 76% for C. albicans.