Studies on the activating capacity of heat killed M. tuberculosis and its culture filtrate proteins on polymorphonuclear neutrophils and peripheral mononuclear cells from tuberculosis patients

Abstract The efficacy of heat-killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis (HKMtb) and its culture filtrate proteins (CFP) to activate blood mononuclear cells (MC) and polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) from tuberculosis patients was investigated. Respiratory burst, NO-derived metabolites, IL-2, IL-12 and TNF-α production of stimulated cells from 16 HIV- tuberculosis patients and 12 healthy controls were analyzed. Increased amounts of TNF-α in supernatants from baseline and stimulated polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells of tuberculosis patients were detected when compared with controls, except for CFP stimulated neutrophils. Augmented IL-2 and IL-12 levels were observed in supernatants of both stimulated MC and PMN from TBP while no differences were found in control supernatants. The patients had a lower respiratory burst response than the controls, for both cell types, regardless of the stimulus employed. Higher nitrite concentrations were found in HKMtb- and CFP-stimulated mononuclear supernatants from patients, compared with controls. The obtained data of the stimulated cellular responses provides us information about the protective immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and some resources to obtain a more efficient anti-tuberculous therapy.