Tashiro K, Yamamoto M, Ushio R, et al. – In this study, researchers examined the predictive value of plasma hepcidin levels on admission for the treatment outcome of patients with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) without HIV co-infection. The study sample consisted of 35 PTB patients with Mycobacterium tuberculosis-positive sputum smears. PTB patients vs healthy individuals had significantly higher plasma hepcidin levels. A longer time to become culture-negative was observed for the non-HIV tuberculosis patients with higher hepcidin levels. Multivariate analysis revealed the highest relevance of the effect of hepcidin on time for culture to culture-negative among other clinical factors. The investigators observed the negative correlation between hepcidin levels and spot numbers in the positive control wells of the T-SPOT.TB assay. In vitro examination with Jurkat cells stimulated with PHA revealed a dose-dependent effect of hepcidin on interferon-gamma production reduction. Overall, immunological reactions against M. tuberculosis infection were found to be altered, and the outcomes of PTB patients without HIV co-infection were affected by hepcidin.