Journal of Microbial & Biochemical Technology

Abstract

Diverse Pattern of Cytokine Production, their Functional Association and mRNA Expression in Tuberculosis Patients with Diabetes Mellitus and their Household Contacts

Meenakshi P, Ramya S, Madhavi Latha A, Lavanya J and Sumanlatha G

Cytokine genes are associated with their altered production and play a significant role in tuberculosis patients with diabetes mellitus and their household contacts. We aimed to study the influence of IL-1β and IL-6 gene polymorphisms on cytokine gene production and to evaluate their mRNA expression in M.tbAg85A stimulated culture supernatants of tuberculosis patients with diabetes mellitus, pulmonary tuberculosis patients, household contacts and diabetes individuals. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used to estimate cytokine production in the culture supernatants and TRIZOL method for mRNA expression. Cytokine production was low in all the subjects when compared to the healthy controls and IL-6 levels increased with treatment. The CC genotype of IL-6 -174 G/C was associated with its low production in household contacts of tuberculosis patients with diabetes mellitus and pulmonary tuberculosis patients. The mRNA expression of IL-1β increased and that of IL-6 decreased in tuberculosis patients with diabetes mellitus, while that of IL-6 decreased with treatment in pulmonary tuberculosis patients; however, there was no significant difference in the household contacts. The cytokine levels were almost similar in patients and their household contacts at the time of diagnosis suggesting that even the household contacts might be infected thus aiding in protecting the high-risk individuals by their prior identification.