We have found that natural killer (NK) cells were very active in pleural effusions containing Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Cytotoxicity against K562 and Raji was augmented when the mononuclear cells were cocultured for 18 hr with purified protein derivative (PPD) derived from M. tuberculosis culture supernatants. In pleural effusions of cancer patients, PPD-activated mononuclear cells were less ...

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) of immunoglobulin G antibody to Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen 5 and tuberculin purified protein derivative (PPD) were assessed for the serodiagnosis of tuberculosis in 41 patients with active tuberculosis, 19 patients with inactive tuberculosis, and 59 healthy control subjects. Patients with active tuberculosis were studied serially at monthly int...

IFN-gamma responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens ESAT-6 and CFP-10 have been proposed as specific markers of M. tuberculosis infection. Monokine induced by gamma interferon (MIG/CXCL9) has been shown to be expressed by IFN-gamma stimulated mononuclear cells and to attract activated T-cells through the chemokine receptor CXCR3. Since MIG is induced early in the response to IFN-gamma, m...

OBJECTIVES We report the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) across certolizumab pegol (CZP) clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), before and after the introduction of stricter TB screening. METHODS TB incidence rates (IRs) were assessed and stratified according to screening guidelines used at the time of CZP trials....

BACKGROUND Reactivation of a latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in immunocompromised individuals is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The limited sensitivity of the established tuberculin skin-test in identifying latently infected patients on immunosuppressive drug therapy represents a major obstacle to better tuberculosis control after transplantation. METHODS In ...

The only approved method of tuberculosis (TB) surveillance of reindeer within the United States is tuberculin skin testing; however, skin testing has an apparent lack of specificity, since numerous reindeer are classified as reactors, yet Mycobacterium bovis is not isolated from tissues upon necropsy. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of an in vitro assay (the Cervigam ass...

Strains of many infectious diseases differ in parameters that influence epidemic spread, for example virulence, transmissibility, detectability and host specificity. Knowledge of inter-strain variation can be exploited to improve management and decrease disease incidence. Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is increasingly prevalent among farmed cattle in the UK, exerting a heavy economic burden on the f...

To explore biologic behaviors and disease relevance of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the development of active tuberculosis (ATB), we investigated the expression profile of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) purified protein derivative (PPD)-induced miRNAs to determine the specific miRNAs involved in the pathogenesis of ATB. The expression profile of miRNA under PPD challenge was first measured using mic...

BACKGROUND Diagnosis and treatment monitoring of patients with tuberculosis remain challenging. OBJECTIVE We have evaluated whether Mycobacterium-specific interferon (IFN)-γ and interleukin (IL)-2 bifunctional cytokine immune response assays improve the diagnosis of and correlate to treatment response in pulmonary tuberculosis. METHODS Early secretory antigenic target (ESAT)6/culture filtra...

Levels of serum antibody to Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) were determined by solid-phase radioimmunoassays in 48 normal donors and 60 patients with bladder cancer. Of 57 patients enrolled in a randomized prospective controlled trial of BCG immunotherapy, 47 were followed for up to 30 months, thus permitting comparisons of tumor recurrence, delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity responses to purifi...