| Objectives The aim of this study was to explore the presence of interleukin-18 and interferon-γin pleural effusions,correlation between pleural interleukin-18 levels and interferon-γlevels,as well as cytological parameters.Methods We determined concentrations of interleukin-18 and interferon-γin pleural effusions from 35 patients with tuberculous pleurisy and 32 patients with lung cancer using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay,and analyzed the relationship between pleural interleukin-18 and interferon-γlevels,as well as the relationship of interleukin-18 levels to total and differential nucleated cell counts.Results①The concentrations of both interleukin-18 and interferon-γwere all significantly higher in tuberculous than in malignant effusions.Positive correlations were found between the interleukin-18 levels and interferon-γlevels in pleural effusions.Pleural IL-18 level was positively correlated with numbers of lymphocytes or neutrophils,but not of macrophages,mesothelial cells,or malignant cells.It was also noted that interleukin-18 levels could not be used for diagnostic purpose due to significant overlap between the two groups.②By analysis of ROC curves,the cut-off values for interleukin-18 and interferon-γwere defined.The sensitivity and specificity of interferon-γfor tuberculous effusion were 97.1%and 97%respectively.Those of interleukin-18 for tuberculous effusion were 81.3%and 62.9%respectively.Conclusions Compared to malignant pleural effusion,interleukin-18 appeared to be increased in tuberculous pleural effusion.Interleukin-18 may play an important role in immune response to human infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis by affecting T-helper 1 response.However,IL-18 levels could not be used for diagnostic purpose.
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