New laboratory criteria of the autoimmune inflammation in pulmonary sarcoidosis and tuberculosis

Sarcoidosis and tuberculosis have many clinical and laboratory similarities, which allowed researchers to assume the presence of common pathogenetic mechanisms in the development of both diseases. Recently, much attention has been paid to investigate the autoimmune origins in these pathologies. The aim of this study is to find out the characteristics of the autoinflammatory immune response in sarcoidosis and tuberculosis. In patients with sarcoidosis (n = 93), tuberculosis (n = 28), and in healthy donors (n = 40), the serum anti-MCV concentration was measured by ELISA, and B cell subpopulations were analyzed by flow cytometry. Based on the results obtained, the formula ([B-naïve%]\[B-memory%]) * ([B-CD38%] + [B-CD5%]) / [anti-MCV] was described. The increase in the calculated index by more than 5 units with a sensitivity of 80.00% and a specificity of 93.10% (AUC = 0.926) suggest the presence of the autoimmune component, which is more typical for sarcoidosis, rather than tuberculosis patients and may serve as a diagnostic criterion.