Adjunct Diagnostic Accuracy of Antigen-specific Interleukin-2 for Latent Tuberculosis Infection in Pregnancy

Abstract

Background: containment, mainly by inducing the proliferation of T cells. However, the role of IL-2 in latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) screening has not been completely explored. We, therefore, evaluated the diagnostic accuracy and optimal cutoff value (OCV) of IL-2 as a potential adjunct biomarker for screening LTBI during pregnancy. Methods: -specific IL-2 culture supernatants using STATA 18.0. The OCV was determined using the Youden index, considering sensitivity and specificity. Results: < .001). IL-2 achieved an AUC of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.82-0.93), with 76% sensitivity and 96% specificity. IFN-γ showed an AUC of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.76-0.90), with 78% sensitivity and 90% specificity. The combined IL-2 + IFN-γ response yielded the highest accuracy, with an AUC of 0.89 (95% CI: 0.83-0.94), 77% sensitivity, and 95% specificity. Conclusions: -specific IL-2 culture supernatant levels showed good discriminatory power for LTBI detection in pregnancy, comparable to IFN-γ, with the combined IL-2+ IFN-γ response yielding the highest accuracy. These findings support the potential utility of IL-2, alone or with IFN-γ, as an adjunct biomarker for LTBI screening in pregnant women, warranting further validation in larger, diverse cohorts.