The Value of Serum Prealbumin in the Diagnosis and Therapeutic Response of Tuberculosis: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine serum prealbumin (PA) levels in patients with tuberculosis and lung cancer, and to evaluate the correlations of serum PA levels with clinicopathological characteristics.MethodTotal 760 patients were included in the study: 320 patients with tuberculosis, 320 patients with lung cancer, and 120 healthy subjects. Serum PA was detected using a biochemical analyzer to determine the value of serum PA in the diagnosis and therapeutic response of tuberculosis.ResultsCompared to lung cancer and healthy individuals, TB patients were more frequent in suffering from low serum PA (75.0% vs.30.9% vs.6.7%,P<0.01), and the serum PA levels of TB patients were significantly reduced (137.5±42.4 mg/L vs. 183.5±49.1 mg/L vs. 240.0±43.9 mg/L, P<0.01). Among various clinical characteristics, type (with pleuritis), age (≥60), ESR (>20 mm/h) and smoking status (≥20 pack×years) were associated with low serum PA levels of TB patients, while ECOG performance status (≥2) was associated with low serum PA levels of lung cancer patients. The change of serum PA levels was in accordance with the therapeutic effects of anti-TB drugs, which might present a valuable and objective indicator for monitoring the therapeutic effects of TB drugs on TB patients.ConclusionLow serum prealbumin levels are very common in TB patients and can be served as a potential indicator for differential diagnosis of lung cancer and monitoring the therapeutic effects of TB drugs.

Diagnostic performance of a seven-marker serum protein biosignature for the diagnosis of active TB disease in African primary healthcare clinic attendees with signs and symptoms suggestive of TB

“…In previous TB studies, higher levels of transthyretin were observed in patients with TB in comparison to uninfected controls,35 whereas lower levels were obtained in patients with TB as compared with patients with lung cancer, with serum concentrations in patients with TB increasing over the course of treatment 36. Our observation is in agreement with these reports.…”

Identification of novel salivary candidate protein biomarkers for tuberculosis diagnosis

“…In general, the use of individual proteins as diagnostic tools for infectious diseases such as TB has not been seen favorably, because of the often poor speci city of single in ammatory biomarkers (54)(55)(56). Our ndings are in agreement with this statement, as the use of individual proteins appears to either have a higher sensitivity and lower speci city or vice versa.…”

Combination of prealbumin and tuberculosis‐specific antigen/phytohemagglutinin ratio for discriminating active tuberculosis from latent tuberculosis infection

“…30,31 Meanwhile, several teams have found that the level of prealbumin (PAB) was decreased in patients with ATB, which suggests that ATB patients may be immunocompromised or undernourished. 32,33 Although these previous studies have suggested the clinical use of TBAg/PHA ratio and PAB for TB diagnostic purpose, the combination of these indexes has not been examined. Theoretically, the combination of TBAg/PHA ratio (TB-specific indicator) and PAB (non-specific indicator), performing by substituting these two indicators into the regression equation, may enhance TB diagnosis, especially the differential diagnosis of ATB and LTBI.…”