title: Diagnostic significance of humoral immune responses to recombinant antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in patients with pleural tuberculosis.
abstract: Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli are seldom demonstrated in tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE) by conventional bacteriological methods. In this study, an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to detect IgG against four mycobacterial recombinant antigens (ESAT-6, PlcA, HspX and Tb8.4) in 69 pleural fluids of patients with TPE and 71 patients with malignant pleural effusion. To increase the sensitivity of the assay, a multi-antigen cocktail containing all the above antigens were also used. IgG positivity in ELISA for PlcA, HspX, Tb8.4, ESAT-6 antigens and multi-antigen complex were 49.3, 60.8, 49.3, 53.6 and 75.4% respectively. Each one of the above four antigens and their multi-antigen cocktail were highly specific in distinguishing tuberculous and malignant pleural effusion. This new generation immunoassay will serve as a useful marker for the diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis patients in whom M. tuberculosis bacilli were not demonstrated by bacteriological methods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sumi
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Radhakrishnan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D016066:Pleural Effusion, Malignant / Q000276:immunology*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D014396:Tuberculosis, Pleural / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D010738:Type C Phospholipases / Q000276:immunology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C093276:ESAT-6 protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis; C118127:HspX protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D010738:Type C Phospholipases; C101028:MpcA protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis