Increased Frequency of CD4+ CD25+ FoxP3+ T Regulatory Cells in Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients Undergoing Specific Treatment and Its Relationship with Their Immune-Endocrine Profile

Table 2

Cytokine and hormone levels in TB patients during specific treatment.

Cytokines and adrenal steroid hormones	HCo group	TB group
		T0	T2	T4	T6	T9
IL-6 (pg/mL)	1.05^a (0.4–2.2)	12.1 (5.7–23.9)	4.7^a (1.8–11.0)	2.9 (1.7–3.6)	3.1 (1.6–3.6)	3.1 (1.0–4.7)
IFN- (pg/mL)	4.7^b (47–8.2)	13. (10.7–24.3)	6.9^b (5.2–12.5)	6.1^b (4.7–10.7)	4.7 (4.7–69)	4.7 (4.7–7.2)
TGF-	572.1^c (531.3–592.4)	688. (591.6–804.0)	629.0 (573.3–748.1)	597.5 (519.0–728.3)	597.0 (552.4–692.4)	593.2 (529.6–683.6)
Cortisol (g/dL)	14.6^d (12.3–16.3)	22. (15.8–28.1)	19.6^d (15.6–21.3)	16.6 (11.4–21.9)	18.1 (12.6–20.6)	16.4 (13.1–20.9)
DHEA-S (g/dL)	200.0^e (133.4–233.9)	129. (60.5–183.5)	112.8^e (58.4–180.7)	125^e (57.7–165.0)	120.2^e (80.15–197.0)	204 (130.3–334.5)

Comparisons between groups.
HCo versus T0, , versus T2, ; ^bHCo versus T0, , versus T2, , versus T4, ; ^cHCo versus T0, ; ^dHCo versus T0, , versus T2, ; ^eHCo versus T0, , versus T2, , versus T4, , versus T6, .
Comparisons within TB patients.
T0 versus T2, T4, T6, T9, ; T0 versus T2, T4, T6, T9, ; T0 versus T2, T4, T6, T9, ; T0 versus T9, ; T0 versus T9, .
Results are shown as median values (25–75 percentiles). HCo: healthy controls. T0: time of diagnosis; T2, T4, T6: 2, 4, and 6 months after starting the specific anti-TB treatment; T9: 3 months after the end treatment completion. Comparisons for independent groups were made by the Kruskall-Wallis analysis of variance followed by post hoc test when applicable. Comparisons for related samples were performed by the Friedman analysis for variance.