Objectives: The etiology and pathogenesis of systemic lupus
erythematosus remains unknown, evidence exists for the
involvement of mycobacterial antigen. This study is aimed to
determine the effect of Mycobacterium tuberculosis on clinical
course of SLE patients and the role of ROS and TNF-α in the
pathogenesis of tuberculosis associated SLE patients.
Methods: This study was done on 100 patients divided into
SLE group (n=30), TB group (n=30), SLE-TB group (n=30) and
control group (n=10). All patients underwent clinical, biochemical
and immunological evaluation by employing techniques such as
SDS-PAGE, direct binding and competition ELISA, PBMC and
cell culture.
Results: Fever, arthritis, skin rash, photosensitivity were more
common in both SLE and SLE-TB group. Reduced glutathione
showed amelioration of ROS and TNF-α induced action, which in
turn, subsequently suppressed the immune-bindings observed in
monocytes of TB and SLE patients cultured without glutathione.
Conclusion: Data shows that SLE patients are more susceptible to
developing Mycobacterium tuberculosis, as ROS and TNF-α in SLE
patients could activate the replication of mycobacterial Ag85B (30
kDa) after bacilli infection