title: Immunological crossreactivity of the Mycobacterium leprae CFP-10 with its homologue in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
abstract: Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture filtrate protein-10 (CFP-10) (Rv3874) is considered a promising antigen for the immunodiagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) together with early secreted antigens of M. tuberculosis (ESAT-6). Both ESAT-6 and CFP-10 are encoded by the RD1 region that is deleted from all tested M. bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) strains but present in M. leprae, M. tuberculosis, M. bovis, M. kansasii, M. africanum and M. marinum. In this study, the homologue of CFP-10 in M. leprae (ML0050) is identified and characterized. Interferon-gamma production in response to this homologue by T cells from leprosy patients, TB patients and unexposed controls shows that CFP-10 of M. leprae is a potent antigen that crossreacts with CFP-10 of M. tuberculosis at the T-cell level. This crossreactivity has implications for the use of CFP-10 of these mycobacterial species as diagnostic tool in areas endemic for both the diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands. a.geluk@lumc.nl
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Geluk
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: van Meijgaarden
authors.forename: K L M C
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Franken
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wieles
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Arend
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Faber
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Naafs
authors.forename: T H M
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Ottenhoff
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D003429:Cross Reactions / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D007918:Leprosy / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000276:immunology*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D017385:Sequence Homology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C117940:CFP-10 protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis; C093276:ESAT-6 protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis; D007371:Interferon-gamma