[Role of biomarkers in making the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy].

Although tuberculosis is one of the most common causes of pleural effusion, diagnosis of tuberculous pleuritis still remains a challenge. This is due to paucity of M. tuberculosis organisms in pleural effusion which results in a relatively low sensitivity of the routinely used diagnostic methods. Thus, different biomarkers in pleural effusion have been extensively studied in order to improve the diagnostic accuracy. Pleural fluid deaminase adenosine activity (ADA) and interferon gamma (IFN-γ) concentration have been shown to be the most reliable and cost-effective markers of tuberculous pleurisy. Hence, these markers have been included in different diagnostic algorithms for patients suspected of tuberculous pleurisy. A high variability of the diagnostic performance and/or more advanced technical demands significantly limit the use of other relatively new diagnostic methods, such as nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) and IFN-γ releasing assays (IGRAs). The article presents a current data on the potential use of different biomarkers in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy.