Objective       To determine the clinical value of interferon-inducible protein 10 (IP-10) in auxiliary diagnosis of active tuberculosis.       Methods      The level of non-specific IP-10 was evaluated in the plasma of 66 active tuberculosis patients

40 non-pulmonary tuberculous patients and 40 healthy controls

and the level of s

pecific IP-10 was detected in the whole blood after stimulated by purified mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific antigen ESAT6 and culture filtrate protein 10 (CFP10). Then the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to determine the diagnostic value of non-specific IP-10 and specific IP-10 to detect active tuberculosis.       Results      The non-specific IP-10 level of the active tuberculosis group (139.6±124.2 pg/mL) was obviously higher than that of the healthy control group (33.5±17.7 pg/mL

P

0.05)

but had no difference with that of the non-tuberculous pulmonary disease group (88.1±73.3 pg/mL

P0.05). After stimulated by the ESAT6 and CFP10

the specific IP-10 level of active tuberculosis group (146.0±167.1 pg/mL) was significantly higher than that of non-tuberculous pulmonary disease group (26.6±9.7 pg/mL

P

0.01) and that of the healthy control group (24.2±9.7 pg/mL

P

0.01). After ROC analysis

the threshold of the specific IP-10 for diagnosis of tuberculosis was 41.1 pg/mL and its sensitivity and specificity were 70.8% and 91.8% respectively. The area under curve (AUC) of the specific IP-10 was 0.905

which was obviously higher than that of non-specific IP-10 (0.747

P

0.01).        Conclusion      The gamma interferon-inducible protein 10 release assay can be used as auxiliary diagnostic method for active tuberculosis. The diagnostic value of the specific IP-10 is better than that of non-specific IP-10.