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Abstract Background The aim of the present study is to investigate the clinical value and characteristics of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) using flow cytometry. Methods The absolute counts of T, CD4+T, CD8+T, natural killer (NK), NKT and B lymphocytes in 217 cases of PTB were detected, and the variations in lymphocyte subset counts between different ages and genders and between aetiological detection results and chest radiography results were analysed. Results In 75.3% of the patients with PTB, six subset counts were lower than the normal reference range, and 44% showed lower‐than‐normal CD4+T lymphocyte levels. The counts of T, CD4+T, CD8+T and B lymphocytes were significantly lower in patients aged >60 years, and the NKT cell counts were significantly lower in female patients than in male patients. Among the patients with positive aetiological results, 40.8% had reduced CD8+T counts; these were significantly lower than those in patients with negative aetiological results (P = 0.0295). The cell counts of T, CD4+T, CD8+T and B lymphocytes reduced as lesion lobe numbers increased. The counts of T, CD4+T and CD8+T lymphocytes were significantly higher in the group with lesions affecting one lobe than in the groups with two to three lobes or four to five lobes, and the counts of B lymphocytes were significantly higher in the group with one lobe and the group with two to three lobes than in the group with four to five lobes. The counts of CD4+T and CD8+T lymphocytes were highest in the no cavity group and showed a downward trend with the increase in cavities; the T lymphocyte count was significantly higher in the no cavity group than in the group with five or more cavities (P = 0.014), and the CD8+T lymphocyte count was significantly higher in the no cavity group than in the group with one to two cavities and the group with five or more cavities (P = 0.001 and 0.01, respectively). Conclusions In most patients with tuberculosis, immune function is impaired. The absolute counts of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets are closely related to the aetiological results and lesion severity in patients with PTB; this could be used as evidence for immune intervention and monitoring curative effects.

Abstract Background The diagnosis of bacterium-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and extra-pulmonary TB is challenging clinically. The detection of the anti-TB antibody has an important, auxiliary, clinical diagnostic value. Therefore, TB antibody detection kits should be screened and evaluated, and the reagents with the highest sensitivity and specificity should be chosen and used clinically. Methods The diagnostic performance of 7 commercially available TB antibody detection kits (kits A, B, C, D, E, F and G) based on the gold immunoassay detection of immunoglobulin (Ig) G or IgM antibodies were simultaneously evaluated and compared in 62 TB cases and 56 non-TB cases in a laboratory. A retrospective analysis including 2549 cases was carried out to assess the clinical diagnosis values of bacteriological examinations and TB antibody tests (kits B and H used in the clinic). Results The sensitivities of TB antibody kits A, B, C, D, E, F and G in the sera from 62 TB patients were 50.0%, 83.9%, 38.7%, 9.7%, 48.4%, 69.4% and 79.0%, respectively; the sensitivities in the sera from 24 smear-negative TB patients were 29.2%, 79.2%, 29.2%, 12.5%, 29.2%, 54.2% and 79.2%, respectively; the specificities in the sera from 56 non-TB patients were 73.2%, 25.0%, 85.7%, 96.4%, 78.6%, 78.6% and 50.0%, respectively. Of the 2549 clinically diagnosed cases, there were 1752 pulmonary TB cases, 505 extra-pulmonary TB cases, 87 old pulmonary TB cases and 205 non-TB cases. The positive results for smear, culture, TB antibody kit B and kit H in pulmonary TB cases were 39.8% (543/1365), 48.6% (372/765), 45.8% (802/1752) and 25.2% (442/1752), respectively; the results in extra-pulmonary TB cases were 3.4% (6/178), 5.8% (4/69), 35.4% (179/505), and 11.3% (57/505), respectively; the results in old pulmonary TB cases were 0% (0/64), 0% (0/30), 32.2% (28/87), and 9.2% (8/87), respectively; and the results in non-TB cases were 0% (0/121), 0% (0/56), 21.5% (44/205), and 2.4% (5/205), respectively. Of 624 smear-positive and/or culture-positive pulmonary TB cases, the sensitivities of antibody test kits B and H were 53.0% and 36.4%, respectively. Of 901 smear-negative and/or culture-negative pulmonary TB cases, the sensitivities of antibody test kits B and H were 42.5% and 19.0%, respectively. The positive rate of antibody detection in the bacterium-positive pulmonary TB cases was significantly higher than that in the bacterium-negative pulmonary TB cases (P