Proceedings of Immunodiagnosis of Tuberculosis: New Questions, New Tools

Introduction: The first international meeting on new biomarkers and tools for the immunodiagnosis of M. tuberculosis infection and disease, entitled objective of the conference was to integrate the most recent knowledge generated through basic, translational, and clinical research that could lead to novel, improved immunodiagnostic tools for tuberculosis (TB). About 150 researchers from academia and the private sector attended the seminar from over 26 countries, including many developing nations. The agenda included 20 scientific presentations and a keynote address by the director of the Stop TB Department at the World Health Organization (WHO). TB is still a major killer: one person dies from this infectious disease every 15 seconds, somewhere in the world. The interaction between the human host and the causative agent of TB, the intracellular pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is characterized by the ability of the host immune response to control infection without causing sterilization and of the pathogen to withstand expression of host immunity by changing its metabolic and growth state. The result is an asymptomatic, chronic (latent) infection that may last for the lifetime of the host. In 5-10% of immunocompetent, infected individuals the host immune response loses control of infection at some time in the life of the individual: tubercle bacilli resume growth, and tuberculosis (TB) develops. Diseased individuals are usually infectious some time during disease. Their timely identification is critical to the success of chemotherapy and to curbing transmission of infection. Consequently, the development of disease in latently infected individuals is a major problem for TB control, as it means that new disease foci can arise outside of identified at-risk populations. Until recently, century-old, often inaccurate methods have been the mainstay of diagnosis of active disease and latent infection [1]. Recent effort has resulted in new immunologic tests for latent infection, while diagnosis of active disease typically relies on detecting tubercle bacilli or their products in the patient's escreate (sputum). Neither old nor new tests, however, can predict progression from latent infection to active disease, a crucial stage for treatment and infection control. The need for better diagnostics for TB has been strongly advocated by The Global Plan