Level of IL-27 in tuberculous pleural effusion and its clinical implications

Objective To explore the level of interieukin-27 (IL-27) in pleural effusion and peripheral blood of patients with tuberculous pleural effusion and elucidate its clinical implications. Methods Pleural effusion patients from the Department of Respiratory and Tuberculosis and healthy volunteers from medical center were selected in the Fifth People′s Hospital of Wuxi from November 2017 to May 2018.There were 53 patients with tuberculous pleural effusion, 49 patients with malignant pleural effusion and 50 healthy controls included in the study.The pleural effusion and serum samples of tuberculosis group and malignant group were collected, and the serum samples of healthy control group were collected.IL-27 was detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in all specimens, and IL-2, IL-10 and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) were detected by flow cytometry in pleural effusion specimens of tuberculosis group and malignant group. Results The levels of IL-27 in pleural effusion and the ratio of pleural effusion to serum in tuberculosis group were significantly higher than those in malignant group (both P 0.05). The IL-27 level in the pleural fluid of the tuberculosis group was higher than that of the serum, and the difference was statistically significant (t=11.30, P 0.05). The receiver operating curve analysis showed that the sensitivity of IL-27 in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion was 88.0%, the specificity was 78.0%, and the area under the curve was 0.915.Combing with IL-10, IFN-γ and IL-27, the sensitivity, specificity and area under curve were 95.9%, 90.6% and 0.983 respectively. Conclusions The elevated expression of IL-27 in tuberculous pleural effusion may aid the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy. Key words: Tuberculosis, pleural; Diagnose; Interleukin-27