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Objective The study aimed to compare the diagnostic efficacy of QuantiFERON-TB Gold(QFT-TB)detection of specific cellular immune IGRAs in tuberculosis diagnostic laboratory for pulmonary tuberculosis,extrapulmonary tuberculosis and special population samples in vitro,which may provide evidence for clinical diagnosis and treatment.Methods A total of 546 patients with tuberculosis(AFB + 146 cases,AFB-247 cases),117 patients with molecular biology positive tuberculosis(Xpert 69 cases,TB-DNA 48 cases)and 36 patients with histopathological positive were collected from January to July 2023.There were 72 cases of extrapulmonary tuberculosis,276 cases of pleural effusion and 25 cases of ascites.QFT-TB method was used for detection,chi-square test was applied for com-parison between groups,and the methodological evaluation of positive rate and coincidence rate were all compared.Results The positive rates of QFT-TB in pulmonary tuberculosis,extrapulmonary tuberculosis and close contacts were 83.69%,69.44%,and 32.41%,respectively.The coincidence rates of QFT-TB in AFB +,GeneXpert,TB-DNA and pathological confirmed tuberculosis patients were 91.09%,88.40%,81.25%,and 72.22%,respectively.The positive rate of pleural effusion in patients with tuberculous pleurisy was 60.50%,and the uncertainty rate was 29.71%.The positive rate of ascites was 44.00%and the uncertainty was 36.00%.Conclusion QFT-TB test has good value in the auxiliary diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis,and has certain reference significance for the diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis based on the detection of pleural fluids and ascites.
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Purpose@#Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a rare mesenchymal malignancy that occurs primarily in children and adolescents. The clinical and pathological features of IMT in adult patients are not well understood. @*Materials and Methods@#We retrospectively searched for records of adult patients with IMT at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center from 2006 to 2021. Clinicopathological data, treatments, and outcomes were collected and analyzed. @*Results@#Thirty adult patients with IMT, mostly women (60.0%), were included. The median age of the patients was 38 (21-77). The most common primary site was abdominopelvic region (53.3%), followed by lungs (20.0%). Seven patients had an abdominal epithelioid inflammatory myofibroblast sarcoma (EIMS). The positivity rate of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) was 81.5% (22/27). Sixteen patients with advanced ALK-positive disease received crizotinib, with an objective response rate (ORR) of 81.3% and a disease control rate of 87.5%. The median progression-free survival was 20.8 months. EIMS was associated with more aggressive behavior; however, the prognosis was similar to that of non-EIMS patients after treatment with an ALK inhibitor. At a median follow-up time of 30 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 13.6 to 46.4), the 5-year overall survival was 77% (95% CI, 66 to 88) in all patients. @*Conclusion@#Adult IMTs appeared more aggressive, with a higher incidence of recurrence and metastases, and patients with EIMS had more aggressive cases. Treatment with ALK inhibitors resulted in a high ORR and a durable response, which suggested that ALK inhibitors could be used as a first-line treatment option in adult patients with ALK-positive advanced IMT.
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Objective To investigate the cellular immunologic response of TH 17/Treg cells in the peripheral blood of pelvic tuberculosis patients and explore their roles in the pathogenesis of pelvic tuberculosis.Methods The intracellular flow cytometry was performed to evaluate the expressions of TH 17 and Treg cells in 46 pelvic tuberculosis patients and 25 healthy controls in childbearing age.Twenty-eight of the 46 pelvic tuberculosis patients were followed up to monitor the variation of the TH17/Treg cells after 3 months and 6 months of anti-tuberculosis treatment.Results The percentage of TH 17 cells in the peripheral blood of pelvic tuberculosis patients was (3.26 ± 1.30) % which was significantly lower than that of healthy controls [(4.92 ± 1.71) %,P < 0.01].The percentage of Treg cells in the patients was (5.18 ± 1.53) % which was significantly higher than that of healthy controls [(3.26 ± 1.10) %,P < 0.01].The percentage of TH17 cells in the pelvic tuberculosis patients after 6 months of treatment was (4.67 ± 1.75) % which was significantly higher than that in the patients before treatment and after 3 months treatment [(3.26 ± 1.30) %,P < 0.01 and (3.70 ± 1.06) %,P <0.01,respectively].The percentage of Treg cells in pelvic tuberculosis patient after 6 months of treatment was (3.93 ±0.94)% which was significantly lower than that in the patients before treatment and after 3 months of treatment [(5.18 ± 1.53)%,P <0.01 and (4.94 ± 1.51) %,P < 0.01,respectively].The percentage of Treg cells in the patients after 6 months of treatment was still significantly higher than that of controls (P < 0.05).The TH 17/Treg ratio before treatment was significantly lower than that of healthy controls (P < 0.01),and the TH 17/Treg ratio was increased after 3 months of treatment but it did not show significant difference compared with that before treatment.The TH 17/Treg ratio after 6 months of treatment (1.18 ± 0.34) % was significantly increased in contrast to those after 3 months of treatment and before treatment [(0.77 ± 0.21) %,P < 0.01 and (0.55 ± 0.13) %,P < 0.01,respectively].The TH 17/Treg ratio could not rise to the normal level even after 6 months of treatment.Conclusion Both the TH 17 and Treg cells may involve in the immunologic responses of pelvic tuberculosis patients and the imbalance of TH1T/Treg cells may remain persistently.
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Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of two tuberculosis-specific IFN-γ release assays in latent tuberculosis infection among HIV-infected individuals. Methods The levels of tuberculosis antigen-specific IFN-γin 102 HIV patients from AIDS Outpatient Clinic of Shenzhen Third People's Hospital were detected by in-house tuberculosis-specific IFN-γ ELISpot assay and commercial T-SPOT TB kit, and tuberculin skin test (TST) were done at the same time. There were 66 males and 36 females,and the average age was 35. Results Seventeen HIV infected patients were positive in both IFN-γ ELISpot and T-SPOT TB methods, the sensitivity, specificity positive predictive value(PPV), negative predictive value(NPV) and compliance rates of ELISpot were 94. 4% ,94. 0% ,77. 3% ,98. 8% and 94. 1% ,respectively. Three patients were positive in both IFN-γELISpot and T-SPOT TB methods, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and compliance rates of TST were 16. 7%, 98. 8%, 75.0%, 84. 7% and 84. 3%, respectively. The average number of spots using three kinds of antigen ESAT-6, Pool A,Pool B obtained were 26. 89 ±5. 77,18. 96 ±4. 75 and 14. 51 ± 3.77, respectively. Only ESAT-6 and Pool B have a statistically significant difference (H=7.557,P = 0.022 9), no significant difference was shown between other groups. There was no significant difference between the positive rate and the CD4+ T cellls number(x2 =0. 860 8 ,P =0. 650 2) ,as the same as the T-SPOT TB (x2 = 1. 396 4, P = 0. 497 5 ). Conclusions The performance of this in-house tuberculosis-specific IFN-γ ELISPot assay was comparable to T-SPOT assay in diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection, and the sensitivity and specificity of both these two assays were all much higher than TST. They canbe recommended in diagnosing latent tuberculosis infection in HIV infected patients.
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ObjectiveTo evaluate the IL-17 expression in HIV/tuberculosis-coinfected patients and its role in the pathogenesis of this coinfection.MethodsFifty-four HIV infected patients were divided into three groups:simple HIV infected group,HIV with latent tuberculosis infection (HIV+ LTBI) group and HIV coinfected with active tuberculosis (HIV+ ATB) group.The whole blood intracellular cytokine staining was performed and samples were then detected by BD FACSCanto.The expressions of CD4+ IL-17+ T cells and CD4+ IFNγ+ T cells were analyzed using FACSDiva software.Comparison between groups was done by independent sample t test.ResultsThe CD4+ T cell count and viral load among these three groups were comparable.There were no significant difference of the expression of CD4+ IL-17+ T cells between simple HIV infected group and HIV+ LTBI group (1.40 ± 1.01) % vs (1.29±0.86) %,(t=0.336,P>0.05),but both of these two groups were much higher than HIV+ATB group (t=3.680,t=2.516,P<0.05).There were no significant differences of the expression of CD4+ IFNγ+ T cells among these three groups [(32.8±24.0)% vs (40.3±1 21.9) % vs (46.1±31.2)%,(t=-0.939,t=-1.602,t=-0.646,P>0.05)].ConclusionThe Th17 response is down-regulated in HIV/tuberculosis-coinfected patients,which may play an important antitubercular role in the pathogenesis of coinfection.
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Objective To assess the validity of a newly developed in-house ELISPOT IFN-γ release assay (IGRA) for the detection of latent tuberculosis infection among HIV infected individuals. Methods In-house ELISPOT assay were performed, together with a tuberculin skin test in 205 health controls and 110 HIV infected individuals , who had no signs of active tuberculosis at time of enrolment . Results Using the ELISPOT assay, positivity rates for the 205 health controls, 110 HIV infected individuals and 47 AIDS patients on highly active antiretrovial therapy (HAART) were 7. 3% , 24.5% , 29. 8% , respectively. These results indicated that the positive rates obtained from HIV infected individuals (include patient on HAART) was significantly higher than health controls( P < 0.001). We found no significant correlation between the CD4 cell count and positivity of ELISPOT assay (P >0.05 ). The proportion of subjects with a positive response to ELISPOT assay were higher than the proportion of tuberculin skin test(TST) responders(P<0.0001) in HIV infected individuals. Conclusion Our study indicates that IGRA using M. tuberculosis specific antigens are likely to retain their validity for the diagnosis of LTBI among HIV positive individuals.