Table 1. Clinical and laboratory characteristics of the control group and the syphilis patients.
| Healthy donors | Control | Non-neurosyphilisa | Neurosyphilis | |
| No. of Cases | 70 | 29 | 69 | 103 |
| Male No. (%) | 48(68.5) | 18(62.1) | 43(62.3) | 73 (70.9) |
| Age (range), y | 44(20–60) | 46(18–65) | 43(16–77) | 50(25–75) |
| b Duration (range), mo | — | — | 1(0.2–168) | 8(0.1–72) |
| Baseline plasma RPR (range) | 0(0–0) | 0(0–0) | 64 (1–512) | 64 (1–512) |
| CSF protein, mg/dl(range) | ND | 23(10–40) | 26(10–44) | 45 (14–186) |
| CSF-WBC, cells/µl (range) | ND | 1(0–5) | 1(0–5.5) | 5.5(0–145.2) |
| CSF VDRL (+) (%) | ND | 0(0) | 0 (0) | 99 (96.1) |
| CSF VDRL(−) and CSF-TPPA(+) (%) | ND | 0(0) | 10 (14.5) | 4 (3.9) |
Data are given as median (range), or frequencies.
include 13 subjects with primary syphilis, 30 subjects with secondary syphilis, 7 subjects with serofast syphilis and 19 subjects with latent syphilis.
“Duration of primary, secondary syphilis and symptomatic neurosyphilis” means the duration of clinical manifestations; “Duration of latent syphilis” means the period between the patient's high risk behaviors which may be infected with T. pallidum and the confirmed both serum TPPA/RPR positive. “Duration of asymptomatic neurosyphilis” means the period between the patient's high risk behaviors which may be infected with T. pallidum and the confirmed neurosyphilis. “Duration of the serofast” means the period between syphilitic patients who receiving recommended standard treatment, whose nontreponemal test titers remain positive and then was diagnosed as serofast.
Abbreviations: RPR, rapid plasma regain; VDRL, venereal disease research laboratory; TPPA, treponema pallidum particle agglutination assay; WBC, white blood cells; ND, not done.
Healthy donors: peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) isolation from healthy donors and for measurement of the baseline of the levels of IL-17+ cells and the frequency of Th17 cells. Control: patients who undergone orthopaedic or stone surgery and had not experienced syphilis, where CSF was collected prior to spinal anaesthesia. Samples from this group were used for measuring the baseline of the levels of IL-17 in CSF.