Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effect of vitamin D combined with anti-tuberculosis drugs on serum IL-1β, IFN-γ and Th17 cell-associated cytokines for the management of spinal tuberculosis

Fang Yu^1,2, Shen Cailiang³

¹Department of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei City; ²Department of Orthopedics, Zhejiang Ningbo PLA 113 Hospital, Ningbo City; ³Department of Spine Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei City, China.

For correspondence:- Shen Cailiang Email: ph1169@163.com

Accepted: 21 April 2019 Published: 31 May 2019

Citation: Yu F, Cailiang S. Effect of vitamin D combined with anti-tuberculosis drugs on serum IL-1β, IFN-γ and Th17 cell-associated cytokines for the management of spinal tuberculosis. Trop J Pharm Res 2019; 18(5):1141-1147 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v18i5.32

© 2019 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of combination of vitamin D and anti-tuberculosis drugs on serum interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and helper T 17 (Th17) cell-associated cytokine levels for the treatment of spinal tuberculosis (TB).

Methods: Ninety-two spinal TB patients were assigned without bias to two groups (46/group): study group (vitamin D combined with anti-TB drug group) and control group (anti-TB drug group). After treatment for 8 weeks, clinical effectiveness, adverse reactions, visual analog scale (VAS) score, spinal cord injury grade, and serum levels of IL-1β, IFN-γ, Th17, IL-10, TGF-β1, IL-17 and IL-23 were assayed with ELISA, and compared between groups.

Results: Study group total effectiveness was significantly higher than that in the control group (95.65 % vs 80.43 %, p < 0.05). Before drug administration, VAS score, degree of spinal cord injury and serum levels of IL-1β, IFN-γ, IL-10, TGF-β1, IL-17 and IL-23 were comparable in the study and control patients (p > 0.05). However, post-treatment, these parameters significantly decreased in both groups (p < 0.05), but were markedly lower in study group patients, relative to controls (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The use of combined treatment of vitamin D and anti-TB drugs is an effective and safe way to alleviate inflammatory response and improve the immunity of spinal TB patients via the regulation of the levels of Th17 cell-related factors.

Keywords: Vitamin D, Anti-tuberculosis drugs, Spinal tuberculosis, Clinical effectiveness, IL-1β, IFN-γ