Abstract: Objective To investigate the role of human neutrophil peptides1-3(HNP1-3) in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis(PTB) and multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis(MDR-PTB). Methods Concentrations of HNP1-3 in plasma were measured by ELISA in control group(20 healthy subjects),sensitive group(21 patients with drug-sensitive cases) and MDR group(21 patients with multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis).We also detected the change of plasma HNP1-3 in patients with tuberculosis both sensitive and MDR after treated with anti-tuberculosis-drugs for six months. Results Before treatment,mean plasma concentrations of HNP1-3 in control group,sensitive group and MDR group were 87.6±8.7,141.7±21.3 and 41.0±10.9 ng/mL respectively.Plasma concentrations of HNP1-3 in sensitive group were much higher than control group(p<0.05).Control group’s were higher than MDR group (p<0.05).After treatment,Mean plasma concentrations of HNP1-3 in sensitive group and MDR group were 76.5±7.1 and 53.2±7.1 ng/mL respectively.Plasma HNP1-3 in sensitive group was decreased compared with before treatment(p<0.01).But there was no difference in MDR group before and after treatment(p>0.05).There was a negative relationship between plasma HNP1-3 before treatment and persistence time of mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum(r=-0.635,p<0.01),and between the radiographic score before treatment(r=-0.465,p<0.01).Plasma concentrations of HNP1-3 in all investigated subjects correlated positively with their count of peripheral blood leucocyte and neutrophil(r=0.594,0.728,p<0.01). Conclusion HNP1-3 plays important role in pathogenesis of pulmonary tuberculosis and MDR pulmonary tuberculosis.The decreased of plasma HNP1-3 may be one of major reasons in the formation of MDR-PTB.

Key words: Pulmonary tuberculosis, Multidrug-resistant, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Human neutrophil peptides1-3(HNP1-3)