LAUSR

Diagnosis and treatment evaluation of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) are time-consuming, so a non-conventional approach should be considered. Our study investigates the utility of CA125 and CA15-3 in differentiation of PTB from other pulmonary infections and prediction of response to antituberculous drugs. A prospective case control study was carried out on 69 patients: group A: 42 PTB and group B (control): 27 non-PTB patients. All patients were subjected to clinical, radiological, microbiological, and quantitative measurement of serum levels of CA125 and CA15-3 by ELIZA at time of diagnosis. Gp-A patients were ZN and culture positive for TB. Antituberculous susceptibility of Mycobacterium isolates was performed by proportional method. Two months after therapy, ZN examination and CA125 and CA15-3 levels were performed. Pretreatment levels of CA125 and CA15-3 in TB patients were significantly higher than both control groups (P = < 0.001 for both markers) and the posttreatment levels (P = 0.001 for both markers). Their sensitivity and specificity were CA125 (95.2 and 81.5%) and CA15-3 (66.7 and 77.8%). CA125 area under curve was significantly higher than that of CA15-3 (0.933, 0.736, P = 0.005). Only resistant strains to isoniazid and ethambutol showed significantly higher levels of CA125 when compared to sensitive strains (P = 0.024). Regression analysis showed that higher CA125 and CA15-3 levels were considered as predictors of TB infection, while higher CA125 was a prognostic factor for prediction of resistance to TB treatment. Serum CA125 and CA15-3 levels can be used as markers for prediction of TB infection and evaluation of responses to antituberculous treatments.