Expression And Significance Of T-lymphocyte Subsets And Cytokines In Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Complicated By Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Objective To explore the changes of T-lymphocyte subsets andcytokines in patients withchronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)complicated by pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB).Methods Fifty in-patients with COPD complicated with PTB who weredetected during July2012to June2013were enrolled in the study as a studygroup；the other50PTB patients，50COPD patients and50healthy peoplewere also enrolled as the control groups. The percentage of NK cells and Tlymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood were measured by flowcytometry-based antibody double-labeling method in all enrolled subjects；thelevel of IL-1、sIL-2R、IL-5、IL-6、IFN-γ and TNF-ɑ were also measured usingthe ELISA method. The nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used forcomparison among groups，followed by the Mann-Whitney test to comparetwo groups.Results The percentage of NK cells in the study group[（12.37±6.96）%]as lower than that of the healthy group [（17.98±4.22）%]（Z＝-5.427，P＜0.001），and the CD4+T lymphocytes in the study group[（30.09±11.09）%]was lower than that in the PTB group[（39.80±9.42）%] and healthy group [（40.17±9.14）%]（Z＝-2.351和-2.682，P＜0.05和P＜0.01）.The level ofIL-1in the study group [（30.14±20.84）ng/L] was lower than that in thehealthy group（[37.98±17.31）ng/L（]Z＝-2.576，P＝0.01）.The level of sIL-2Rin the study group （[168.78±94.92）pmol/L]was higher than that in the COPDgroup（[114.70±49.32）pmol/L] and the healthy group （[95.42±24.32）pmol/L]（Z＝-3.416和-4.837，P＜0.01和P＜0.001）.The level of IL-6in the studygroup [（51.46±35.86） ng/L] was higher than that in the healthygroup[（33.76±12.40）ng/L]（Z＝-2.072，P＜0.05）.The level of IFN-γ in thestudy group [（28.82±32.40）ng/L] was higher than that in the COPDgroup[（16.60±9.27）ng/L] and the healthy group [（17.80±9.15）ng/L]（Z＝-3.141和-2.426，P＜0.01和P＜0.05）.The level of TNF-in the studygroup [（48.16±25.56）ng/L] was lower than that of the healthy group[（65.04±22.66）ng/L]（Z＝-3.937，P＜0.001）.Conclusion Compared with the control groups, the patients with COPDcomplicated by PTB had a lower expression in NK cells and CD4+Tlymphocytes，and an abnormal expression of IL-1、sIL-2R、IL-5、 IL-6、IFN-γ and TNF-ɑ.