[Clinical detection and significance of plasma IL-37 in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis].

To investigate the level of plasma interleukin 37 (IL-37) and explore the clinical significance of IL-37 in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis (ATB).ELISA was used to detect the level of plasma IL-37 from 30 patients with ATB, 15 patients who had been treated for ATB, and 21 healthy volunteers as controls.The level of plasma IL-37 in patients with ATB was significantly higher than that in healthy controls. The monitoring on the 15 patients showed that plasma IL-37 was reduced after treatment for ATB. The level of plasma IL-37 in patients with anti-Mycobecterium tuberculosis antibody positive or sputum smear positive were higher than that in patients with anti-Mycobecterium tuberculosis antibody negative or sputum smear negative for Mycobecterium tuberculosis, and the level was negatively correlated with the number of white blood cells in peripheral blood.The patients with ATB present with significantly increased level of plasma IL-37, which might be an indicator of curative effect in ATB.