Serum level of soluble interleukin-2 receptor alpha as a predictor of treatment response in brucellosis.

Introduction: Iran is one of the endemic regions with high prevalence of brucellosis. Several serological markers for diagnosis and response to treatment are available. Serum level of Soluble Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha (SIL-2Ralpha) is a new marker to assess response to therapy and clinical relapse of brucellosis. This study intends to investigate the serum levels of SIL-2Ralpha before and after treatment, to evaluate this marker for patients responding to treatment of brucellosis.

Methods: This study is an analytical cross-sectional study. Forty patients who had clinical signs of brucellosis and serological tests confirmed the disease have been treated with standard antibiotics for 6 weeks. 2ME and SIL-2Ralpha levels were measured before and after treatment and these values were compared.

Results: Among the 40 patients, 27 patients (67.5%) had improvement in symptoms and 13 patients (32.5%) had no symptoms after treatment. In Comparing serum levels of SIL-2Ralpha and 2ME before and after treatment, decreasing of both markers after treatment was significant (p < 0.001). In patients with false positive for 2ME, SIL-2Ralpha in 57% of patients had a reduction, but in patients with false negative for 2ME, SIL-2Ralpha in only 28% of patients increased.

Conclusion: Not only is Serum level of SIL-2Ralpha useful for predicting response to treatment of brucellosis, but also in cases of false positive of 2ME can be helpful.