Antigen-Specific IFN-γ Responses Correlate with the Activity of M. tuberculosis Infection but Are Not Associated with the Severity of Tuberculosis Disease

Figure 2

The levels of IFN-γ secretion measured in QFT assay in patients having different severity of TB disease. Patients were grouped based on the forms of pulmonary pathology (a), TB extent (b), the degree of pulmonary destruction (c), bacteria excretion (d), and intoxication (e). Each TB characteristic was scored as described in Section 3.1. IFN-γ concentrations greater than 10 IU/mL were assigned a value of 10 IU/mL. Figures on -axis indicate scores. Shown are the differences determined in Mann-Whitney test (; ). In Kruskal-Wallis analysis with Dunn’s posttest, the differences between the groups were insignificant.

(a) Form of lung pathology

(b) TB extent

(c) Pulmonary destruction

(d) Bacteria excretion

(e) TB intoxication