An impaired immune response in tuberculosis patients seems to be related to weight loss that coexists with an immunoendocrine imbalance. Thus, wasting is well-recognised as a prominent feature of tuberculosis (TB), which may not be reversed even after six months of treatment. Adipokines may play a role in the immune response to M. tuberculosis, and TB may impair the expression of inflammatory adipokines, such as leptin. We aimed to study patients with pulmonary TB before and six months after treatment, by measuring plasma leptin, soluble leptin receptor and adiponectin, weight and body mass index. Nineteen patients with a diagnosis of pulmonary TB were included in the study. Blood samples were obtained before and six months after treatment, to measure plasma adipokine levels. We found an increase in plasma leptin levels after treatment (p<0.05). Even though BMI also increased, the extent was not enough to account for the changes in the leptin levels. On the other hand, plasma soluble leptin receptor and adiponectin levels did not change significantly after treatment. In conclusion, these results suggest that active TB infection may affect the expression of leptin, in addition to the wasting that may occur in these patients, and that effective TB treatment increases circulating leptin levels, probably restoring normal immunological competence.

中文翻译：

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有效治疗肺结核可恢复血浆瘦素水平。

结核病患者免疫应答受损似乎与体重减轻有关，体重减轻与免疫内分泌失衡共存。因此，众所周知，浪费是结核病（TB）的一个突出特征，即使治疗6个月也可能无法消除。脂肪因子可能在针对结核分枝杆菌的免疫反应中起作用，而结核病可能会损害炎症性脂肪因子（如瘦素）的表达。我们旨在通过测量血浆瘦素，可溶性瘦素受体和脂联素，体重和体重指数来研究治疗前后的肺结核患者。该研究纳入了19名诊断为肺结核的患者。在治疗前和治疗后六个月采集血样，以测量血浆脂肪因子水平。我们发现治疗后血浆瘦素水平增加（p <0.05）。即使BMI也有所增加，其程度仍不足以说明瘦素水平的变化。另一方面，治疗后血浆可溶性瘦素受体和脂联素水平没有明显变化。总之，这些结果表明，活动性结核感染除了可能会浪费这些患者外，还可能影响瘦素的表达，并且有效的结核病治疗可提高循环中的瘦素水平，可能恢复正常的免疫学能力。