Open Access

ARTICLE

Effective treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis restores plasma leptin levels

Victoria Perna¹, Antonio Pérez-Pérez¹, Patricia Fernández-Riejos¹, Juan Polo-Padillo², Nínive Batista³, Angel Domínguez-Castellano³, Víctor Sánchez-Margalet¹

1 Department (UGC) of Clinical Biochemistry, Virgen Macarena University Hospital, Seville, Spain
2 Biostatistics Unit, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Seville, Virgen Macarena University Hospital, Seville, Spain
3 Department (UGC) of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Virgen Macarena University Hospital, Seville, Spain

* Corresponding Author: Víctor Sánchez-Margalet,

European Cytokine Network 2013, 24(4), 157-161. https://doi.org/10.1684/ecn.2014.0346

Abstract

An impaired immune response in tuberculosis patients seems to be related to weight loss that coexists with an immunoendocrine imbalance. Thus, wasting is well-recognised as a prominent feature of tuberculosis (TB), which may not be reversed even after six months of treatment. Adipokines may play a role in the immune response to M. tuberculosis, and TB may impair the expression of inflammatory adipokines, such as leptin. We aimed to study patients with pulmonary TB before and six months after treatment, by measuring plasma leptin, soluble leptin receptor and adiponectin, weight and body mass index. Nineteen patients with a diagnosis of pulmonary TB were included in the study. Blood samples were obtained before and six months after treatment, to measure plasma adipokine levels. We found an increase in plasma leptin levels after treatment (p<0.05). Even though BMI also increased, the extent was not enough to account for the changes in the leptin levels. On the other hand, plasma soluble leptin receptor and adiponectin levels did not change significantly after treatment.In conclusion, these results suggest that active TB infection may affect the expression of leptin, in addition to the wasting that may occur in these patients, and that effective TB treatment increases circulating leptin levels, probably restoring normal immunological competence.

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