title: Rapid diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis by a dot-immunobinding assay.
abstract: In this study, a dot-immunobinding assay (Dot-Iba) was standardized to measure circulating antimycobacterial antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens for the rapid laboratory diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM). Specific CSF-IgG antibody to Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a culture proven patient with TBM was isolated and coupled with activated Cynogen bromide-Sepharose 4B. Using an immunoabsorbent affinity chromatography, 14 kDa antigen present in the culture filtrates of M. tuberculosis was isolated and this antigen was used in the Dot-Iba, to quantitate specific antimycobacterial antibodies in CSF specimens. The Dot-Iba gave positive results in all the 5 culture proven patients with TBM and gave no false positive results in CSFs from patients with partially treated pyogenic meningitis. Dot-Iba developed in our laboratory is a simple, rapid and specific method and more importantly suited for the routine application in laboratories with limited resources.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Kerala State, India.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Sumi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Annamma
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sarada
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Radhakrishnan
mesh_terms: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D014390:Tuberculosis, Meningeal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D007074:Immunoglobulin G