il-10 and il-12 production in response to mycobacterium tuberculosis total lipid antigens in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

background: mycobacterium tuberculosis lipid antigens take part in pathogenicity of the bacterium but the response of monocytes/macrophages to these antigens in tubercu-losis is not well known. objective: the aim of current investigation was to study the m. tuberculosis lipid antigens in tuberculosis pathogenesis. methods: in the present study m. tuberculosis lipid antigens were extracted. monocytes and macrophages from mul-tidrug-resistant tuberculosis (mdr-tb), tb patients, asymptomatic healthy individuals with positive tuberculin skin test positive and healthy individuals with negative tubercu-lin skin test were collected using magnetic cell sorting. the cells were stimulated by m. tuberculosis total lipid antigens and il-12 and il-10 in their supernatants were meas-ured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. results: the il-12 production by mono-cytes in response to m. tuberculosis total sonicate antigens in the mdr-tb patients did not show a considerable difference with the ppd positive healthy subjects, whereas in the active tb patients, il-12 levels significantly decreased (p