title: Anti-PPD antibodies in Chinese Behçet's disease.
abstract: Anti-PPD antibody determinations were carried out by the ELISA method using extracted PPD of tubercle bacillus H37RV as the target antigen. The positive rates of anti-PPD antibodies in patients with active tuberculosis, inactive tuberculosis, Behçet's disease, or non-tubercular disease and in a village population were 97.5%, 77.4%, 48.9%, 33.6% and 13.9%, respectively. Although the average titer of anti-PPD antibodies in Behçet's disease was lower (2.168 +/- 0.854) than that in active tuberculosis (3.126 +/- 1.182), it was about the same as that in inactive tuberculosis (2.336 +/- 1.250). In comparison with the village community population surveyed, the average titer of anti-PPD antibodies in Behçet's disease patients was distinctly higher (P less than 0.001). These results indicate that tuberculosis may be etiologically related to Behçet's disease.
authors.affiliation: PUMC Hospital, CAMS, Beijing.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D014373:Tuberculin / Q000276:immunology*; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D014373:Tuberculin