Abstract

Background: The main cause of tuberculosis is Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced during tuberculosis infection. The present study was conducted to assess ratio of serum SOD and whole blood glutathione peroxidase in diagnosis of tuberculosis.
Materials & Methods: 60 subjects were divided into 3 groups of 20 each. Group I were healthy subjects, group II were suffering from respiratory tract infection (RTI) or bronchial asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or bronchiectasis or bronchial carcinoma and group III were tuberculosis patients. In all, superoxide dismutase and GPx was measured.
Results: SOD (U/mL) before and after treatment in group I was 125.2 and 120.4, in group II was 140.6 and 130.5 and I group III was 1286.4 and 984.2 respectively. The difference was significant (P< 0.05).GPx (U/L) before and after treatment in group I was 8624.8 and 8512.0, in group II was 4825.2 and 7246.8 and I group III was 974.2 and 2640.6 respectively. The difference was significant (P< 0.05).
Conclusion: The serial measurement of ratio is useful to monitor the sensitiveness of M. tuberculosis toward drug therapy and diagnose drug-resistant cases. The measurement of the ratio of serum SOD to whole blood GPx might help in the early diagnosis of TB.