Altered Cortisol/DHEA ratio in tuberculosis patients and its relationship with abnormalities in the mycobacterial-driven cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

BOZZA, VANINA; D´ATTILIO, LUCIANO; MAHUAD, C.; GIRI ADRIANA ANGELICA; DEL REY A; BESEDOVSKY H; BOTTASSO O; BAY ML

Scandinavian journal of immunology

Blackwell Scientific Publications

Lugar: England; Año: 2007 vol. 66 p. 97 - 103

We have investigated the relationship between cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) levels and the immune response to mycobacterial antigens in peripheral venous blood, from a male population of active tuberculosis patients and age-matched healthy controls of the same sex (HCo). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were cultured for 36 or 96 h with whole sonicated Mycobacterium tuberculosis (WSA) for measurement of proliferation, interferon gamma (IFN-c) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in culture supernatants. Comparisons on the in vitro mycobacterial-driven immune responses demonstrated that TB patients had a higher IL-10 production, a decreased lymphoproliferation and a trend to reduced IFN-c synthesis, in relation to HCo. Active disease was also characterized by increases in the plasma levels of glucocorticoids (GC) and reduced concentrations of DHEA which resulted in a higher cortisol/DHEA ratio respect the HCo group. Plasma DHEA levels were positively correlatedwith IFN-c values. An inverse correlation was found between the cortisol/DHEA ratio and IFN-c levels. Novel evidence is provided showing that the balance between cortisol and DHEA is partly responsible for the immune perturbations seen in TB patients.