The first phase IIb safety and efficacy trial of a new tuberculosis vaccine since that for BCG was completed in October 2012. BCG-vaccinated South African infants were randomized to receive modified vaccinia virus Ankara, expressing the Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen 85A (MVA85A), or placebo. MVA85A did not significantly boost the protective effect of BCG. Cryopreserved samples provide a un...

BACKGROUND Studies of Tuberculosis (TB) case contacts are increasingly being utilised for understanding the relationship between M. tuberculosis and the human host and for assessing new interventions and diagnostic tests. We aimed to identify the incidence rate of new TB cases among TB contacts and to relate this to their initial Mantoux and ELISPOT test results. METHODS AND FINDINGS After in...

Cancer vaccine which induces cytotoxic T lymphocyte targeting tumor associated antigens is one of major stream in cancer immunotherapy. Many cancer immunotherapy programs are in the clinical development all over the world and also the identification of biomarker for pharmacodynamics and patient selection should be considered. Enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay is one useful method to dete...

AIM to evaluate the diagnostic value of an interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) with enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) method, T-SPOT.TB, in the diagnosis of pleural TB using pleural fluid mononuclear cells (PFMC). METHODS forty-eight subjects, presumed to have pleural TB with exudative pleural effusion by Light's criteria, dominated by mononuclear cells, had their pleural fluid specimen te...

Recently, two studies have shown that an ELISPOT assay using mononuclear cells (MCs) compartmentalised in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is an accurate and rapid rule-out or rule-in test for tuberculosis meningitis (TBM) in conjunction with other rapid tests [1, 2]. However, these two studies had limitations: the majority (94%) of enrolled patients were infected with HIV in one study [2], and th...

PURPOSE To assess the tolerability and effectiveness of 105AD7 vaccination in colorectal cancer patients. 105AD7 is a human anti-idiotypic antibody mimicking CD55, a glycoprotein, which is more than expressed on colorectal cancer cells and protects them from attack by complement. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Colorectal cancer patients (n = 67) eligible for primary surgery were randomized to receive th...

BACKGROUND Options for intervention against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection are limited by the diagnostic tools available. The Purified Protein Derivative (PPD) skin test is thought to be non-specific, especially in tropical settings. We compared the PPD skin test with an ELISPOT test in The Gambia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Household contacts over six months of age of sputum smear ...