Tuberc Respir Dis.  1986 Jun;33(2):79-87. 10.4046/trd.1986.33.2.79.

Antimycobacterial Antibody Response in Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis during Chemotherapy

• KMID: 2528701
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.1986.33.2.79

Abstract

The precise assessment of response to therapy is still a problem especially in long-standing tuberculosis with destroyed lung and extrapulmonary tuberculosis which may invalidate the x-ray examination and regular laboratory test for such assessment. With enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the authors examined the antimycobacterial antibody response to therapy using sonificated tubercle bacilli extract(TE antigen) as antigen. The IgG antivity was measured from 103 active tuberculosis patients during treatment and the following results were obtained. 1) ln minimal active group, the antibody activities as absorbance at 492 nm in 3-4 months, in 7- 8 months and in 10-12 months after therpay turned out to be 0.378土 0.077, 0.354土 0.063 and 0.325土0. 059 respectively. ln moderately advanced group, the activities were 0. 554土0. 177, 0.498土 0.118 and 0.365土0. 098. ln far advanced group, the activities were 0.957土0.308, 0.740土 0.294 and 0.425土0.284. 2) The antibody response during the early phase of therapy was examined before therapy, 1-2 months and in 3-4 months after starting therapy. ln minimal active group, the activities as absorbance at 429nm were 0.372土0. 065, 0.392土0. 080 and 0.355土 0.081 respectively. ln moderately advanced group, they were 0.468土0.155, 0.517土 0.148 and 0.538土 0.150 and in far advanced group, the observed were 0.866土0.259, 0.773土0.222 and 0.085土 0.243 . 3) The antibody changes were not significant during early phase of treatment but could be seen from 3-4 months after treatment. The decrease was more pronounced in moderately and far advanced groups.