Abstract—Tuberculosis is a severe bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In the recent years, studies on the immunological diagnosis of tuberculosis have become advancing. In this study, forty patients diagnosed with tuberculosis on the basis of history, clinical examination, chest radiography, sputum examination and related laboratory parameters were recruited from The Institute of Thoracic Medicine, Chennai, India and were compared with age and sex matched healthy volunteers (n=35). The Serum immunoglobulins IgA, IgM, IgE levels were determined in 40 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. IgA, IgM, IgE, levels were found to be increased significantly (p<0.001) when compared with normal healthy volunteers. The rise of IgA, IgM, IgE levels in patients with tuberculosis may be interpreted as humoral response to mycobacterial antigens.

Index Terms—Tuberculosis, IgA, IgM, IgE.

Rohini K is with the Unit of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine AIMST University (e-mail: rohinik23@gmail.com).
Dr Srikumar P S is with the Unit of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine AIMST University (e-mail: gooddoc15@gmail.com).
Dr Mahesh Kumar A is with the Madras Medical Mission Hospital, Mogappair, Chennai.

Cite: Rohini K., Srikumar P. S., and Mahesh Kumar A., "A Study on the Serum Immunoglobulin Levels in Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients," International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 280-281, 2012.