Maria Luiza Doria Almeida, Marco Antonio Barbieri, Ricardo Q Gurgel, Saddiq Tsimiri Abdurrahman, Uthman Alhaji Baba, C Anthony Hart, Alan Shenkin, Angela Maria Silva, Luiz de Souza, Luis Eduardo Cuevas
The identification of early markers that predict the response to anti-tuberculosis treatment would facilitate evaluation of new drugs and improve patient management. This study aimed to determine whether selected acute phase proteins and micronutrients measured at the time of diagnosis and during the first weeks of treatment could predict treatment responses during the 2-month standard intensive phase of therapy. For this purpose, alpha1-antitrypsin, alpha1-acid glycoprotein, alpha2-macroglobulin, C-reactive protein, C3, C4, zinc, copper and selenium concentrations were measured in Brazilian patients with smear-positive tuberculosis at the time of diagnosis and 1, 3, 5 and 8 weeks after initiation of therapy...
June 2009: Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene