Multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains are widespread and present a challenge to effective treatment of this infection. The need for a low-cost and rapid detection method for clinically relevant mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis that confer multidrug resistance is urgent, particularly for developing countries. We report here a novel test that detects the majority of clinic...

Several genes encoding for different cytokines may play crucial roles in host susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB), since the cytokine production capacity varies among individuals and depends on the cytokine gene polymorphism. The association of the cytokine gene polymorphisms with the development of TB was investigated in this study. DNA samples were obtained from a Turkish population of 81 pat...

The epidemic of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), especially multidrug-resistance tuberculosis (MDR-TB) presented a major challenge for TB treatment today. We performed iTRAQ labeling coupled with two-dimensional liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (2D LC-MS/MS) and Solexa sequencing among MDR-TB patients, drug-sensitive tuberculosis (DS-TB) patients, and healthy controls. A total of 50 d...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. bovis share >99% genetic identity and induce similar host responses and disease profiles upon infection. There is a rich history of codiscovery in the development of control measures applicable to both human and bovine tuberculosis (TB) including skin-testing procedures, M. bovis BCG vaccination, and interferon-γ release assays. The calf TB infection model offe...

BACKGROUND Current diagnostic tests cannot identify which infected individuals are at risk for progression to tuberculosis (TB). Our aim was to identify biomarkers which can predict the development of TB prior to clinical diagnosis. METHOD In a retrospective case-control study, RNA of 14 HIV-infected drug users obtained before TB diagnosis (cases) and of 15 who did not develop TB (controls) w...

BACKGROUND Newer molecular diagnostics have brought paradigm shift in early diagnosis of tuberculosis [TB]. WHO recommended use of GeneXpert MTB/RIF [Xpert] for Extra-pulmonary [EP] TB; critics have since questioned its efficiency. METHODS The present study was designed to assess the performance of GeneXpert in 761 extra-pulmonary and 384 pulmonary specimens from patients clinically suspected...

The HIV-TB-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) can complicate combined treatments for HIV-1 and TB. Little is known about tissue damage in TB-IRIS. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) degrade components of the extracellular matrix and consequently may play a role in such immunopathology. Here we investigated the involvement of MMPs in TB-IRIS. We determined MMP transcr...

OBJECTIVE Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Host genetic variability is an important determinant of the risk of developing TB in humans. Although the association between MBL polymorphisms and TB has been studied in various populations, the results are controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate mannose-binding lectin (MBL) gene polymorphisms wit...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate Pyrazinamide (PZA) susceptibility results obtained by phenotypic MGIT 960 TB system against enzymatic Pyrazinamidase assay and genotypic pncA gene sequencing. To find the prevalence of infections caused by M. bovis in PZA resistant M. tuberculosis complex isolates. METHODS 33 consecutive PZA resistant and 30 consecutive PZA susceptible isolates reported for PZA suscepti...