Correlation study on CXC chemokine expression with CD8+T cell differentiation and disease severity in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis
Ma Weili
Zhu Guiyun
Han Yunxiao
An Xiaoying
Liu Mei
Abstract：Objective To analyze the correlations of the expression levels of CXC chemokine receptor 3(CXCR3),CXC chemokine ligand 10(CXCL10)and CXCL11 with CD8+T cell differentiation and disease severity in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.Methods A total of 107 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis treated in Hebei Chest Hospital from December 2022 to October 2023 were enrolled and divided into mild group(42 cases),moderate group(35 cases)and severe group(30 cases)according to disease severity.General clinical data were collected.Within 48 h after enrollment,the levels of CXC chemokines including CXCR3,CXCL10 and CXCL11,as well as CD8+T cell differentiation subset indicators such as naive T cells(Tn),central memory T cells(Tcm),effector memory T cells(Tem)and terminally differentiated effector T cells(Temra)were detected.Multiple linear regression,generalized additive model(GAM),ordered Logistic regression,receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve,restricted cubic spline(RCS)and mediation effect analysis were adopted for correlation analysis.Results With the increase of disease severity in pulmonary tuberculosis patients,the levels of CXCR3,CXCL10,CXCL11,Temra,programmed cell death protein 1,T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-containing molecule 3,lymphocyte activation gene 3,tumor necrosis factor-α and interferon-γ increased gradually,while body mass index,Tn and Tcm levels decreased correspondingly(all P＜0.05).Multiple linear regression analysis showed that CXCR3,CXCL10 and CXCL11 were positively correlated with Temra levels(all P＜0.05),and negatively correlated with Tn and Tcm levels(all P＜0.05).Mediation effect analysis indicated that CXCR3,CXCL10 and CXCL11 exerted significant positive total effects on disease severity of pulmonary tuberculosis patients.Tn and Temra played partial mediating roles between CXCR3,CXCL10,CXCL11 and disease severity(all P＜0.05),and Tcm had a partial mediating effect between CXCR3 and disease severity(P＜0.05).ROC curve analysis revealed that CXCR3,CXCL10 and CXCL11 had good predictive efficacy for the progression from mild to moderate-severe pulmonary tuberculosis and from mild-moderate to severe pulmonary tuberculosis,and the combined detection of the three indicators achieved better predictive performance.RCS curve analysis showed that the risk of progressing to severe pulmonary tuberculosis increased linearly with the elevation of CXCR3,CXCL10 and CXCL11 levels(all P＜0.05).Conclusions The levels of CXCR3,CXCL10 and CXCL11 in pulmonary tuberculosis patients are closely correlated with CD8+T cell differentiation and disease severity.CXC chemokines have high predictive value for the severe progression of pulmonary tuberculosis,which are expected to serve as potential biomarkers and provide a new direction for immunotherapy of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Keywords：Pulmonary tuberculosisCXC chemokineCXC chemokine ligandCD8+T cellDisease severity
Publication Date：2026-06-18
Online Publishing Date：2026-09-14(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 846-851 )