Could inducible protein-10 and heparin-binding hemagglutinin improve the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected subjects in a country with low incidence of tuberculosis ?

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to evaluate inducible protein-10 (IP-10) as a biomarker besides interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) to improve the identification of active tuberculosis (TB) and latent tubercular infection (LTBI) in a country with a low incidence of TB.

Methods: Whole blood from Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected subjects was stimulated with region-of-difference-1 (RD1)-specific peptides and with heparin-binding hemagglutinin (HBHA) to determine the release of IP-10 and IFN-γ.

Results: No statistically significant difference was observed between positive rates of IP-10 and IFN-γ after RD1-specific peptide stimulation in the TB and LTBI groups; a different response was detected in QuantiFERON TB-gold test-negative (QFT–) subjects. A significantly different proportion of positive responses was observed between IP-10 and IFN-γ following HBHA stimulation in the TB group and in the QFT– group but not in the LTBI group.

Conclusions: The IP-10 test seemed to identify false-negative QFT results in some subjects with a positive IFN-γ/IP-10/HBHA pattern.

Keywords::

• Tuberculosis
• QuantiFERON
• IP-10
• interferon-gamma
• IFN-γ

Declaration of interest: This work was funded by grant of “Regione Sardegna (CRP: 25835).” The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.