BACKGROUND Despite the enormous global burden of tuberculosis (TB), conventional approaches to diagnosis continue to rely on tests that have major drawbacks. The improvement of TB diagnostics relies, not only on good biomarkers, but also upon accurate detection methodologies. The 10-kDa culture filtrate protein (CFP-10) and the 6-kDa early secreted antigen target (ESAT-6) are potent T-cell anti...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the causative agent of a pulmonary epidemic that is estimated to infect one-third of the world's population and that has an increased incidence of multidrug resistance. The evaluation of new chemical entities against M. tuberculosis is hampered by the lack of biological tools to help predict efficacy, from early drug development to clinical trials. As the rat is th...

The diagnosis of smear-negative and culture-negative patients with active tuberculosis (TB) is challenging. The detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific antibodies in human sera has been an important diagnostic aid. However, detection of antibody responses to a single antigen usually has a low sensitivity for diagnosis of TB. In this study, humoral immune responses against recombinant M...

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is primarily caused by infection with Mycobacterium bovis, which belongs to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. The airborne route is considered the most common for transmission of M. bovis, and more than 15% of cattle with bTB shed the Mycobacterium, which can be detect by nested PCR to amplify mycobacterial mpb70 from a nasal swab from a cow. To screen for cytoki...

Background: Controling Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI) is important for the End TB Strategy program. The prevalence of LTBI and reactivation to active tuberculosis are increased in immunodeficiency conditions, such on hemodialialysis patients. Laten can be diagnosted by Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) immunoglobulin release assay (IGRA). This diagnostic study aimed determine agreement level TST...

BACKGROUND Mycobacterium tuberculosis Region-of-Difference-1 gene products present opportunities for specific diagnosis of M. tuberculosis infection, yet immune responses to only two gene-products, Early Secretory Antigenic Target-6 (ESAT-6) and Culture Filtrate Protein-10 (CFP-10), have been comprehensively investigated. METHODS T-cell responses to Rv3873, Rv3878 and Rv3879c were quantified ...

ESAT-6 (for 6-kDa early secreted antigenic target) is a secreted antigen found almost exclusively in organisms of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. We compared in vitro gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) responses by peripheral blood mononuclear cells to this antigen in patients with pulmonary disease due to either Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) or Mycobacterium tuberculosis with those in he...

Tuberculosis remains a major global health problem worldwide, and hence there is a need for novel vaccines that better induce cellular-mediated immunity (CMI). In search of a better vaccine target, the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube Test (QFT-GIT) and the interferon-γ ELISPOT assay (ELISPOT) were used to compare the magnitude of CMI in patients. Results of the ELISPOT assay led to the discovery of...

The effort to develop a tuberculosis (TB) vaccine more effective than the widely used Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) has led to the development of two novel fusion protein subunit vaccines: Ag85B-ESAT-6 and Ag85B-TB10.4. Studies of these vaccines in animal models have revealed their ability to generate protective immune responses. Yet, previous work on TB fusion subunit vaccine candidate, Mtb72f...

Tuberculosis continues to be a worldwide problem for both humans and animals. The development of tests to differentiate between infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Mycobacterium bovis and vaccination with M. bovis BCG could greatly assist in the diagnosis of early infection as well as enhance the use of tuberculosis vaccines on a wider scale. Recombinant forms of four major secreted pr...