The cross-reactivity of mycobacterial antigens in immune-based diagnostic assays has been a major concern and a criticism of the current tests that are used for the detection of paratuberculosis. In the present study, Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis recombinant proteins were evaluated for antigenic specificity compared to a whole-cell sonicate preparation (MPS). Measures of cell-med...

BACKGROUND There is a need for new vaccines for tuberculosis (TB) that protect against adult pulmonary disease in regions where BCG is not effective. However, BCG could remain integral to TB control programmes because neonatal BCG protects against disseminated forms of childhood TB and many new vaccines rely on BCG to prime immunity or are recombinant strains of BCG. Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma...

MPB70 is a secreted protein of Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis which stimulates both cellular and humoral immune responses during infection with bovine and human tubercle bacilli. In addition, vaccination with MPB70 has been shown to induce Th1 cell responses and protection in animal models of tuberculosis. The present study was carried out to map the dominant human Th1 cell ...

Prior exposure of a vaccinee to certain species of environmental mycobacteria can prime the immune system against common mycobacterial antigens, which can in turn reduce the subsequent efficacy of live attenuated mycobacterial vaccines (such as Mycobacterium bovis BCG), in both human and livestock vaccination programs. In this study, two strains of Mycobacterium avium, both isolated from New Ze...

Complex antigens require processing within antigen-presenting cells (APCs) to form T cell stimulatory complexes with CD1 antigen-presenting molecules. It remains unknown whether lipids with multi-acylated moieties also necessitate digestion by lipases to become capable of binding CD1 molecules and stimulate T cells. Here, we show that the mycobacterial tetra-acylated glycolipid antigens phospha...

A recombinant 64 kD protein of Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) (antigen A), which amounted to approximately 2% of an E. coli lysate, was tested for its capacity to stimulate human T4 clones reactive to mycobacterial proteins. Two out of four crossreactive clones, established from a patient with tuberculoid leprosy, which could be stimulated by protein preparations of M. lepra...

When exposed to a challenge of 10 Mycobacterium bovis BCG cells per antigen-presenting cell, most human monocytes engulf several organisms. In contrast, blood dendritic cells which are potent antigen-presenting cells for several antigens are not detectably phagocytic for mycobacteria. We investigated the possibility that infected macrophages might regurgitate antigens for presentation by popula...

The seroreactivity of a cocktail of purified mycobacterial excretory–secretory (ES) antigens ES-31, ES-41 and ES43 was assessed by ELISA and immunoblotting in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. The ES-31 antigen was isolated by affinity chromatography and ES-41 and ES-43 were isolated by fast protein liquid chromatography from Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra culture filtrate. Seven of 27 pu...