Abstract:

Objective To understand the correlations between clinical characteristics of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and flow cytometry subsets of T cells and natural killer (NK) cells. Methods One thousand continuously admitted patients diagnosed as PTB in Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital from January 1, 2019 to May 25, 2019 were retrospective enrolled for analysis. Multiple linear stepwise regression models were established with Eviews 8.0 software to determine the correlations between clinical characteristics and values of flow cytometry cell subsets in peripheral blood. Results (1) The degree of lung lesion range and acid-fast staining smear from respiratory specimens in patients with PTB were positively related with the frequency of CD3⁺ T cells: the larger lung lesion range and the higher the positive degree of acid-fast staining smear, the lower the frequency of CD3⁺ T cells was(regression coefficient was -0.255 and -0.499 respectively, P value was 0.021 and 0.027 respectively). (2) Age, gender and tuberculosis molecular biological detection results of patients were related to the frequency of CD4⁺ T cells: the number of CD4⁺ T cells in patients aged less than 20 years was lower than that in patients with older age groups (regression coefficient -4.710, P=0.031). The frequency of CD4⁺ T cells in male patients was lower than that in female patients (regression coefficient -2.150, P=0.001). The frequency of CD4⁺ T cells in patients with positive PCR test was higher than that in patients with negative PCR test (regression coefficient 1.433, P=0.030). (3) The frequency of CD8⁺ T cells in patients with initial treatment was higher than that in patients with retreatment (regression coefficient 1.247, P=0.029). The higher the positive degree of acid-fast staining smear, the higher the frequency of CD8⁺ T cells was (regression coefficient 0.442, P=0.033). (4) The frequency of NK cells of patients with extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) was lower than those without EPTB (regression coefficient 0.375, P=0.030). Conclusion The degree of pulmonary lesions and positive acid-fast staining from respiratory tract specimens in patients with PTB were correlated with frequency of CD3⁺ T cells. Age, sex and tuberculosis molecular biological detection results were correlated with the frequency of CD4⁺ T cells. CD8⁺ T cells was correlated with initial treatment and positive acid-fast staining. There was a correlation between frequency of NK cells and patients with PTB coexisted with EPTB.

Key words: Tuberculosis, pulmonary, Disease attributes, T-lymphocyte subsets, Killer cells, natural, Data interpretation, statistical, Causality, Evaluation studies