Adenylate kinase activity in cerebrospinal fluid of TBM patients

Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is a severe life-threatening infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). It affects the central nervous system (CNS), causing high mortality and disability, especially in children. However, the current diagnostic methods for TBM using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lack sensitivity and predictive biomarkers for prognosis and time consuming. Thus, the diagnosis of TBM remains a problem in spite of many technological developments in biochemical techniques. This is due to the non-specific clinical symptoms and the lack of sensitive methods to accurately detect Mtb. In this study, we have measured adenylate kinase (AK) in CSF from TBM and other neurological diseases, using a simple spectrophotometric method. CSF-AK in 12 out of 13 patients showed a significantly increase (Mean±SE=3.34±0.37) as compared to normal and other neurological disorders (0.804±0.26). This study indicates that CSF-AK may be an additional useful marker for supporting diagnosis of TBM.