Diagnostic value of interleukin-27 in tuberculous pleural effusion

Objective: To explore the diagnostic value of interleukin-27 (IL-27) in tuberculous pleural effusion.

Methods: A total of 76 patients of pleural effusion treated at Shandong Provincial Hospital from March 2013 to February 2014 in accordance with the natures of effusion fluid were divided into: (1) Tuberculosis group of tuberculous pleural effusion (n = 40), including 22 males and 18 females; aged 19 to 73 years; (2) Malignant group of malignant pleural effusion (n = 36), including 20 males and 16 females; aged 33 to 78 years old; including lung cancer (n = 28), lymphoma (n = 3), esophageal (n = 1) and uncertain primary tumor site (n = 4). The effusion and serum levels of IL-27 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the results analyzed. And the curve of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was employed to determine the diagnostic value of IL-27 in tuberculous pleural effusion.

Results: The level of IL-27 was (1 402 ± 321) ng/L in tuberculous pleural effusion and it was significantly higher than those in malignant pleural effusion (556 ± 133) ng/L and sera (499 ± 88) ng/L (both P < 0.05). According to the ROC curve, the cut-off value of IL-27 was 838 ng/L in diagnosing tuberculous pleural effusion. And the rates of diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of IL-27 were 95.0%, 97.2% and 96.1% respectively.

Conclusions: Detection of pleural effusion IL-27 concentration is of great importance in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion. And it is worthy of wider clinical promotion.