Biomarkers in Tuberculosis

An estimated 9 million new cases of tuberculosis (TB) and 2-3 million deaths are reported
globally every year, making TB the leading cause of death from a single inectious pathogen(1).
A major challenge in tuberculosis control is the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection that is
defined as an infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) without clinical, bacteriological,
or radiological findings(2). However, latent TB infected individuals may develop TB disease in
the future(3) Until recently the tuberculin skin test has been used to identify persons infected by
Mycobacterium tuberculosis(4) who are at high risk for the progression to active disease(5, 6).
This method has several limitations(7). It has low sensitivity in immunosuppressed persons,
who are at highest risk for progression to active TB(8), and low specificity in populations with
high BCG vaccination coverage and high likelihood of exposure to non-tuberculosis
mycobacteria (9)
REFRENCIAS
1.
Berry MP, Graham CM, McNab FW, Xu Z, Bloch SA, Oni T, et al. An interferon-inducible
neutrophil-driven blood transcriptional signature in human tuberculosis. Nature. 2010;466(7309):973-7.
Epub 2010/08/21.
2.
Connell TG, Davies MA, Johannisen C, Wood K, Pienaar S, Wilkinson KA, et al. Reversion and
conversion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis IFN-gamma ELISpot results during anti-tuberculous
treatment in HIV-infected children. BMC infectious diseases. 2010;10:138. Epub 2010/05/29.
3.
Galarza M, Tarazona D, Borda V, Agapito JC, Guio H. Evidence of Clonal Expansion in the
Genome of a Multidrug-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Clinical Isolate from Peru. Genome
announcements. 2014;2(1). Epub 2014/03/01.
4.
Flores-Villanueva PO, Ruiz-Morales JA, Song CH, Flores LM, Jo EK, Montano M, et al. A functional
promoter polymorphism in monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 is associated with increased
susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis. The Journal of experimental medicine. 2005;202(12):1649-58.
Epub 2005/12/15.
5.
Ganachari M, Guio H, Zhao N, Flores-Villanueva PO. Host gene-encoded severe lung TB: from
genes to the potential pathways. Genes and immunity. 2012;13(8):605-20. Epub 2012/09/21.
6.
Fermin G. La norma 312. El Peruanno. 2012;1(1). Epub 2013/02/15.
7.
Gideon HP, Wilkinson KA, Rustad TR, Oni T, Guio H, Kozak RA, et al. Hypoxia induces an
immunodominant target of tuberculosis specific T cells absent from common BCG vaccines. PLoS
pathogens. 2010;6(12):e1001237. Epub 2011/01/05.
8.
Guio H, Ashino Y, Saitoh H, Siddiqi UR, Mizusawa M, Xiao P, et al. High numbers of interferongamma-producing T cells and low titers of anti-tuberculous glycolipid antibody in individuals with latent
tuberculosis. The Tohoku journal of experimental medicine. 2010;220(1):21-5. Epub 2010/01/05.
9.
Guio H, Vilaplana C, Cardona PJ. [Immunodiagnosis and biomarkers in tuberculosis]. Medicina
clinica. 2011;137(9):408-13. Epub 2010/11/09. Inmunodiagnostico y biomarcadores en tuberculosis.