Serological analysis of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for anti-A60 immunoglobulins

The role of antibodies in Bacille Calmette Guérin-mediated immune responses and protection against tuberculosis in humans: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

The mechanisms underlying Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine's protective effects against tuberculosis (TB) are incompletely understood but are proposed to involve a predominantly cell-mediated process. However, there is increasing evidence for the involvement of antibodies in the control of Mycobacteria tuberculosis and in the immune response to BCG.

METHODS

We did a systematic review of studies investigating anti-BCG antibodies in individuals with active or latent TB, and in the response to BCG vaccination.

RESULTS

Of 1417 articles screened, 70 were relevant, comprising 52 investigating anti-BCG antibodies in TB and 18 investigating the anti-BCG antibody response to BCG-vaccination. Individuals with active TB have higher levels of anti-BCG antibodies compared with individuals with latent TB or healthy individuals. Antibodies to BCG are present after BCG vaccination. There is some evidence for the in utero transfer of maternal anti-BCG antibodies to infants.

CONCLUSIONS

BCG vaccination induces a humoral response. Antibodies targeted against BCG and its antigens may play a role in protection against active TB.

Evaluation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific antibody responses for the discrimination of active and latent tuberculosis infection

OBJECTIVES

The serological antibody detection tests offer several advantages for the rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). The Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific antibody responses associated with different stages of TB infection remain to be investigated.

METHODS

The Pathozyme-Myco IgG (Myco G), Pathozyme TB Complex Plus (TB Complex), IBL M. tuberculosis IgG ELISA (IBL), Anda Biologicals TB IgG (Anda-TB), and T-SPOT.TB (T-SPOT) tests were performed for 133 active TB patients (ATB group), 131 controls (CON group), and 95 subjects with latent TB infection (LTBI group).

RESULTS

The four serological tests all showed relatively low sensitivity in the ATB group but high specificity in the LTBI and CON groups. The antibody levels of the four serological tests were significantly higher in the ATB group than in the LTBI group. The same trend was observed between the LTBI and CON groups. The four serological tests demonstrated potential diagnostic value in discriminating ATB from LTBI. A combination of the Anda-TB and TB Complex tests exhibited the best diagnostic potential in discriminating ATB from LTBI, with a sensitivity of 89.4% and a specificity of 94.7%. Further, the diagnostic value of Anda-TB and TB Complex were validated in a prospective cohort including 106 patients with suspected ATB. Combined with the T-SPOT test, the tests showed a sensitivity of 87.2% and a specificity of 92.5% for discriminating ATB patients from all ATB suspected cases in the validation group.

CONCLUSIONS

The antibody responses of the serological tests all showed significant differences between the ATB and LTBI groups. A combination of Anda-TB and the TB Complex test demonstrated high diagnostic potential in discriminating ATB from LTBI and may be an additional diagnostic tool in the diagnosis of M. tuberculosis infection.

Generation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific recombinant antigens and evaluation of the clinical value of antibody detection for serological diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis

Rapid diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) infection is critical in clinical practice. To establish an effective serological diagnostic technique, we generated the several Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB)-specific immunogenic antigens and evaluated the clinical benefits of detection of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibodies raised against these target antigens for the diagnosis of patients with active TB. The genes encoding the MTB-specific antigens 6-kDa early secretory antigenic target of MTB (ESAT-6), 10-kDa culture filtrate protein (CFP-10), ESX-1 substrate protein C (ESPC), 14KD/38KD and ESAT-6/14KD/38KD, were amplified from the MTB genome by PCR. Prokaryotic vectors were constructed for the expression of the individual MTB antigens. The target recombinant protein was expressed in Escherichia coli (BL21/DE3) and purified using immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC). An ELISA based immunoassay was set up using these target antigens for the diagnosis of active TB. The detection samples included 98 patients with active TB and 102 healthy control volunteers. The cutoff OD value for IgG and IgM antibodies was selected according to a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The sensitivity, specificity and positive likelihood ratio were also determined. We successfully cloned, expressed and purified the ESAT-6, CFP-10, ESPC, 14KD/38KD and ESAT‑6/14KD/38KD recombinant antigens of MTB. The mean levels of IgG antibodies were significantly higher in patients with pulmonary TB compared with control groups. The target MTB-specific antigens can distinguish a TB infection from a non-TB infection, showing significant difference in statistics (P<0.001). The sensitivity of the IgG test ranged from 69.4% (ESAT-6) to 77.6% (ESAT-6/14KD/38KD) in the active TB patients; the specificity of assays varied from 78.4% (CFP-10) to 90.2% (14KD+38KD) in the healthy control groups. The IgM antibody test can not distinguish a TB infection from a non-TB healthy control. In conclusion, clinical use of the ESAT-6, CFP-10, ESPC, 14KD/38KD and ESAT-6/14KD/38KD antigens based on serodiagnostic IgG assay is of significant value for the rapid diagnosis of TB and for the discrimination between active TB patients and healthy controls.

Analysis of SEVA TB ES-31 antigen specific immunoglobulins IgM, IgA and IgG in sera of sputum and culture positive pulmonary tuberculosis

Tuberculosis remains major health problem in India and developing countries Immunodiagnosis has important role in screening, diagnosis and management of tuberculosis. SEVA TB ES-31 antigen has shown potential in detecting tuberculous IgG antibody in earlier studies from our laboratory. In the present study we have analysedSEVA TB ES-31 antigen specific immunoglobulinsIgM, IgA and IgG in clinically and bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis cases to determine the usefulness of specific immunoglobulin class in the diagnosis of patients attending the hospital.Of the 30 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis 25 (83.3%) were positive for IgG, 19 (63.3%) for IgM and 16 (53.3%) for IgA. On combining IgG and IgM positivity, sensitivity was increased to 93.3%. While combining IgG and IgA positivity, sensitivity increased to 90%. However specificity was decreased to 66.6% and 70% for both of these combinations respectively. It could be envisaged from this study that IgG antibody detection against ES-31 antigen showed acceptable sensitivity (83.3%) and specificity (86.6%) compared to IgM or IgA alone or in combination. When immune responses were analysed according to degree of sputum positivity, IgG response was observed to be predominant in all grades, compared to IgM or IgA antibody. The addition of IgM or IgA as an adjunct test increases the sensitivity but at the cost of specificity. Hence the detection of IgG alone is more useful compared to IgM or IgA assay, in detecting tuberculosis disease cases coming to the hospital.

Opportunities for improved serodiagnosis of human tuberculosis, bovine tuberculosis, and paratuberculosis

Mycobacterial infections—tuberculosis (TB), bovine tuberculosis (bTB), and Johne's disease (JD)—are major infectious diseases of both human and animals. Methods presently in use for diagnosis of mycobacterial infections include bacterial culture, nucleic acid amplification, tuberculin skin test, interferon-γ assay, and serology. Serological tests have several advantages over other methods, including short turn-around time, relatively simple procedures, and low cost. However, current serodiagnostic methods for TB, bTB and JD exhibit low sensitivity and/or specificity. Recent studies that have aimed to develop improved serodiagnostic tests have mostly focused on identifying useful species-specific protein antigens. A review of recent attempts to improve diagnostic test performance indicates that the use of multiple antigens can improve the accuracy of serodiagnosis of these mycobacterial diseases. Mycobacteria also produce a variety of species-specific nonprotein molecules; however, only a few such molecules (e.g., cord factor and lipoarabinomannan) have so far been evaluated for their effectiveness as diagnostic antigens. For TB and bTB, there has been recent progress in developing laboratory-free diagnostic methods. New technologies such as microfluidics and “Lab-on-Chip” are examples of promising new technologies that can underpin development of laboratory-free diagnostic devices for these mycobacterial infections.

Progress in serodiagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

One-third of the world population is estimated to have Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Accurate and timely identification of infected individuals is critical for treatment and control. The current diagnostic methods lack the desired sensitivity and specificity, require sophisticated equipment and skilled workforce or take weeks to yield results. Diagnosis of extrapulmonary TB, TB-HIV co-infection, childhood TB and sputum smear-negative pulmonary TB pose serious challenges. Interest in developing serodiagnostic methods is increasing because detection of antibody is rapid, simple and relatively inexpensive, and does not require a living cell for detection. Three types of tests, namely screening tests to overcome diagnostic delay, specific tests for diagnosis of extrapulmonary TB and other bacteriologically negative cases, and tests for vaccine-induced immunity need critical consideration. Several factors must be considered to develop serodiagnostic methods for TB. Antigen recognition by infected individuals is highly heterogeneous due to stage of disease, differences in HLA types, strain of the bacilli, health of the patient and bacillary load. With advances in molecular biological techniques, a number of novel antigens have been identified. Some of these antigens have proven valuable in detecting specific antibodies in some of the most challenging TB patients. The best example is a fusion protein containing several M. tuberculosis proteins (e.g. CFP-10, MTB8, MTB48, MTB81 and the 38-kDa protein) which showed encouraging results in detecting antibodies in sera of patients, including TB-HIV co-infection. This review presents progress made in the serodiagnosis of TB during the last decade.

The role of fine-needle aspiration cytology and Ziehl Neelsen staining in the diagnosis of cutaneous tuberculosis

The present study highlights the role of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) staining in diagnosis of cutaneous tuberculosis and correlates the cytomorphological features with histopathology.FNAC and biopsy was performed on 30 cases of cutaneous tuberculosis and along with the routine stains, ZN and periodic acid Schiffs staining was carried out in all cases. On cytology, out of 9 cases of lupus vulgaris, 89% showed cohesive epithelioid cell granulomas with or without chronic inflammatory infiltrate; however, acid fast bacilli (AFB) could be demonstrated only in 22.2% on cytology while none on histopathology. Of 19 cases diagnosed as Scrofuloderma, 79% showed caseation necrosis with or without granulomas, 10.5% revealed granulomas with acute inflammatory infiltrates. AFB was demonstrated in 78.9% cases on cytology when compared with 15.8% on histopathology. No conclusion could be drawn in one case each of TBVC and lichen scrofulosorum.Hence, correlating cytomorphological patterns with clinical presentations often yields diagnostic information in cases of cutaneous tuberculosis and frequently obviates the need for biopsy especially in cases of scrofuloderma.

Influence of the washing buffer composition on the sensitivity of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using mycobacterial glycolipids as capture antigens

Immunogenic glycolipids from the cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are potential capture antigens in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for the serodiagnostis of tuberculosis. Typically, washing steps in ELISAs are performed with buffers containing a detergent. However, Tween-20, the most commonly added detergent, was reported to be able to remove the coating of certain glycolipid antigens from microtitre wells. In order to determine the influence of the washing buffer composition on the results, we measured serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) against three mycobacterial glycolipids by ELISA, conducting three separate experiments with three different buffers: Tris-buffered saline (TBS), TBS plus 0.02% Tween-20 (TBS-Tween), or TBS plus 0.3% bovine serum albumin (TBS-BSA). The capture antigens applied were lipoarabinomannan with the basic arabinose-containing motif (AraLAM), the mannose-capped version of lipoarabinomannan (ManLAM), and trehalose-6,6'-dimycolate (cord factor). All ELISAs achieved acceptable specificities around 95%. The sensitivities, however, varied widely, depending upon the sort of washing buffer used. In 38 patients with sputum smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis and control groups of 79 patients with non-tuberculosis lung disease and 92 healthy volunteers, the anti-cord factor ELISA achieved 100%, 31.6%, and 60.5% with TBS, TBS-Tween, and TBS-BSA, respectively. Corresponding sensitivity values for AraLAM were 39.5%, 26.3%, and 23.7%, and for ManLAM 94.7%, 65.8%, and 55.3%. We conclude that Tween-20 or BSA should be omitted from the washing buffer in ELISAs, when the capture antigen is of lipid nature.

Prognostic variables for high titres in a fluorescent antibody test to diagnose tuberculosis

SETTING

The four hospitals and a tuberculosis clinic in the province of Zeeland, The Netherlands.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the usefulness of PPD antibody measurement in the diagnosis of tuberculosis in patients admitted to hospital.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Sixty-one patients presenting with active tuberculosis, and 215 control patients were included in the study. Initial serum PPD antibody titres were determined with a macrophage uptake Fluorescent antibody test (MuFat) to construct a discrimination model between Tuberculosis (TB) and non-TB. We also retrospectively collected clinical parameters of the TB patients at presentation. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression are used to identify variables predicting high antibody titres.

RESULTS

In TB patients, the presence of clinical symptoms (OR=10.63) and the presence of at least two concurrent non-lymph node disease localizations outside thorax and abdomen (OR=13.94) are necessary and sufficient to predict high titres. The logistic model shows a significant contribution of the 2log (titre) to the discrimination between TB and non-TB patients. At a cut-off value of 128, a specificity, sensitivity, and positive predictive and negative predictive values of 97%, 39%, 80% and 85%, respectively, are calculated in the study cohort.

CONCLUSION

Our data suggest an application of the test at high cut-off values for timely diagnosis of difficult-to-diagnose TB patients. The results of this retrospective study will have to be confirmed in further prospective studies.

Immunologic diagnosis of tuberculosis: a review

The diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) principally rests on the sputum examination and culture. However, the sensitivity of sputum smear for acid-fast bacteria is only approximately 50% and sputum culture has a relatively long turnaround time. As a result, a number of studies have been conducted in an attempt to find a rapid and accurate diagnostic test for TB. They include serological assays against various mycobacterial antigens. Here we review the merits and deficiencies of the serological tests for TB. In general, serological assays have a high negative predictive value, making them potentially useful as a screening test to rule out active TB although in HIV-positive individuals, low sensitivity and low negative predictive value compromises the accuracy of the seroassays in this group of individuals. In populations where the prevalence of latent TB infection is high, the relatively low positive predictive value of the tests reduces their specificity for active TB. Furthermore, the higher costs and greater training required in performing these tests makes it important that future studies also assess whether their use affects patient outcomes in management of TB.

Diagnosis of tuberculosis by a visually detectable immunoassay for lipoarabinomannan

Recovery of tubercle bacilli from sputum, tissue, or body fluid is the standard for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) although this process is technically demanding and relatively insensitive. We have developed a simplified, visually detectable, colloidal gold-based serological assay to qualitatively detect IgG directed against the mycobacterial cell wall component lipoarabinomannan (LAM). The objective of this investigation is to determine the accuracy of this assay in patients with active pulmonary TB and in control patients with or without latent infection. In patients with active TB, the sensitivity of anti-LAM IgG was 85 to 93%. In five patients with active TB who were smear-negative, all tested positive for anti-LAM IgG. The specificity of the test depended on the presence of tuberculous infection. In U.S. citizens comprised of young healthy adults and rheumatology patients, the specificity was 100%. In an at-risk population for tuberculous infection who were either tuberculin skin test-negative or positive, the specificity was 89%. The negative and positive predictive values of the test were 98% and 52%, respectively. We conclude that anti-LAM IgG immunoassay is relatively sensitive and specific for active TB and thus, a potentially useful screening test for active TB.

Immunological relatedness of the protective mechanisms against tuberculosis and cancer

BACKGROUND

Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), an attenuated strain of tuberculous bacillus, is the source of vaccines providing unclear and variable protection against tuberculosis (TB) and cancer. Thermostable macromolecular antigens (TMAs) are major mycobacterial complexes immunodominant in disease. A60 (TMA complex of BCG) protects mice against TB development, via T lymphocyte (TL)-mediated macrophage (Mphi) activation, halting intracellular mycobacterial replication. In most A60-primed mice, cytolytic TLs and Mphi infiltrate cancer tissue, resulting in 80-100% rejection. Adoptive TL transfer is indispensable for Mphi-dependent tumour cell inactivation via oxygen and nitrogen radicals. Neoplasm development induces immune anergy with depletion ofA60-specific TL and activated Mphi. A60 protects mice against TB and cancer by inducing the synthesis of three lymphokines: interleukin 2 (IL-2), interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). Tumour cells prevent A60-dependent synthesis of these lymphokines in vivo and in vitro.

CONCLUSION

These data provide some clues to immune surveillance and tumour escape mechanisms, as well as to the antituberculous and antineoplastic BCG action.

Tuberculosis antigen A60 serodiagnosis in tuberculous infection: application in extrapulmonary and smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis

An ELISA diagnostic test for tuberculosis antigen A60 (TBA60) IgG/IgM was used in a tertiary referral hospital in Taiwan. From June 1992 to December 1993, serum samples obtained from 907 patients were analyzed for TBA60 IgG and IgM titres. The final diagnosis of these patients was confirmed by microbiological study and clinical follow up for 18-24 months. Among 147 patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis, IgG was positive in 112 (76.2%), IgM was positive in 14 (9.52%). Among 90 patients with active extrapulmonary tuberculosis, IgG was positive in 53 (58.9%), IgM was positive in 9 (10%). Among 153 patients with inactive tuberculosis, IgG was positive in 28 (18.3%), IgM was positive in 1 (1.6%). Among 517 patients with nontuberculous disease, IgG was positive in 50 (9.7%), IgM was positive in 3 (0.6%). In this study population with 26% (237/907) active tuberculous infection rate, the TBA60 ELISA IgG had a diagnostic sensitivity of 69.6% and a specificity of 92.1%. These results indicate a positive predictive value of 67.9% and a negative predictive value of 89.2%. The sensitivity of IgM was 10.5% and specificity, 99.4%. The serum IgG tire had good correlation with the extent of pulmonary TB had a higher percentage of IgG seropositivity (83.9%) than those with smear-negative pulmonary TB (70.6%) and extrapulmonary TB (58.9%). In 50 cases with active tuberculosis, follow-up examinations were carried out one month after treatment. In 18 cases with initially negative IgG and IgM titres, 13 showed elevation of serum IgG titres into positive level, one had positive seroconversion of IgM which was the only serological marker indicating active infection. Therefore, 77.8% (14/18) gained diagnostic benefit from follow-up serological examination. It was concluded that TBA60 IgG and IgM ELISA is a useful test when diagnosing tuberculosis. This test also assists in the clinical judgement of tuberculosis when used as an adjunct to symptoms and sputum smear, and for monitoring therapeutic response at the commencement of treatment.