RAISED LEVELS OF AGALACTOSYL IGG IN CHILDHOOD TUBERCULOSIS

Raised levels of agalactosyl immunoglobulin G (IgG) have been found in adults with tuberculosis, Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis, a nd recent evidence, both circumstantial and experimental, suggests tha t it has distinct functional properties that play a role in pathogenes is. Since tuberculosis in infants is strikingly different from the dis ease seen in adults, but switches to the adult form at adrenarche or p uberty, we documented the association of agalactosyl IgG with tubercul osis in childhood between the ages of 0 and 16 years. Sera were collec ted from 99 children diagnosed as cases of tuberculosis in Istanbul, T urkey, and compared with levels in non-tuberculous controls. The perce ntage of agalactosyl IgG was significantly raised in children with tub erculosis overall (P<0.001, Mann-Whitney U test) and in all age groups except for children over 12 years old, whose numbers were too small t o be meaningful. Therefore the differences between adult and childhood tuberculosis are not due to a difference in the tendency for agalacto syl IgG to be produced at different ages. The percentage of agalactosy l IgG may be useful for monitoring the progress of individual complica ted cases.