Raised dsDNA autoantibodies in tuberculosis patients

Background Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. M. tuberculosis can become dormant, resist the hostile environment of the phagosome, and trigger a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction leading to chronic infection and granuloma formation. In granulomas, destruction of tissues results in the release of intracellular self-antigens that may provoke the development of autoantibodies. Therefore, the present cross-sectional study was conducted to detect anti-dsDNA antibodies in local TB patients. Patients and methods In all, 160 patients were recruited for this comparative study. Anti-dsDNA antibodies were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Independent Student’s t test was used to compare mean anti-dsDNA values between TB patients and healthy individuals. A p value less than or equal to 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results Anti-dsDNA antibodies were high in TB patients as compared with healthy controls and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P