Fatty acid derivative, chemokine, and cytokine profiles in exhaled breath condensates can differentiate adult and children paucibacillary tuberculosis patients.

The anti-mycobacterial immune response in adults and children with tuberculosis (TB), as well as the response in bacteriologically positive and negative patients, is different. However, knowledge of the immunological events occurring in the lungs in these clinical situations remains scarce. Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) samples may be useful for studying the inflammatory environment of the lower airways in TB patients. The fatty acid, cytokine, and chemokine profiles in EBC from healthy adults; smear-positive and smear-negative adult patients; and healthy, asthmatic, and TB children were determined using gas chromatography and LUMINEX, respectively. Unsaturated fatty acids, particularly oleate, were increased in TB adults and children compared with healthy individuals. Elevated levels of IL-17 were characteristic of paucibacillary patients (adults and children), whereas elevated MCP-1 (monocyte chemotactic protein-1) levels were characteristic of adult patients (smear-positive and smear-negative). The levels of all of the molecules were comparable to the controls after anti-TB treatment, suggesting that changes in the levels of the molecules detected in the EBC samples were the result of the active pulmonary TB. EBC samples may be an important tool for the detection of potential early biomarkers in the different clinical manifestations of pulmonary TB and a useful tool for the diagnosis of TB, particularly in children.