Evaluation of new antigens for the diagnosis of latent M. tuberculosis infection

PEÑA D; ALVAREZ IB; ASPERA RH; BRANDA A; MUSELLA RM; CASTAGNINO J; JURADO JO; PASQUINELLI V; GARCÍA VE

CAPITAL FEDERAL

Congreso; First French-Argentine Immunology Congress (FAIC); 2010

According to World Health Organization, one third of the world population is infected with latent M. tuberculosis (LTB). The introduction of the novel IFN-γ release assays (IGRAs) using CFP-10 and ESAT-6 M.tuberculosis (Mtb) latency antigens has vastly improved the diagnosis of LTB. However, these tests cannot adequately differentiate between LTB and active disease. Thus, other latency antigens are currently under investigation to improve those clinical assays. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to identify potential specific Mtb antigen candidates to be used in improved diagnosis assays. To this aim, we first obtained recombinant antigens: Rv2624, Rv2626c, Rv2628, HspX, ESAT-6 and CFP-10. Then, we investigated the immune response of BCG-vaccinated healthy donors (HD), tuberculosis patients (TB) and Mtb infected individuals by determining IFN-γ production and proliferation. The results indicate that subjects with LTB showed significantly higher IFN-γ responses to Rv2626c and HspX than individuals with active TB and HD (p