Improving T-cell assays for diagnosis of @entity9178 : Confirmation of the potential role of testing XXXX release in Iranian @entity1 .

@entity1 @entity9178 @entity379 @entity1199 @entity378
BACKGROUND: Since gamma interferon release assays (IGRAs) cannot differentiate between active @entity378 and @entity9178 ( @entity9178 ), development of rapid and specific diagnosis tools are essential for discriminating between active @entity378 ( @entity378 ) from @entity9178 . Both IGRAs are based on Mycobacterium @entity378 -specific antigens, namely, early secretory antigenic target 6 (ESAT-6) and 10kDa culture filtrate (CFP-10). The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential value of @entity1199 secretion by whole blood cells after stimulation with rESAT-6 and rCFP-10 for discriminating between active and @entity9178 . METHODS: @entity1199 and @entity379 were measured after blood stimulation of 90 cases (30 with active @entity378 , 30 with @entity9178 and 30 healthy controls) with recombinant ESAT-6 and CFP-10. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was conducted to determine the best @entity1199 and @entity379 result thresholds in discriminating between cases with active or @entity9178 , and the corresponding sensitivity and specificity were recorded. RESULTS: The @entity379 release assay demonstrated a good sensitivity and specificity (sensitivity 83-84% and specificity 92%) for diagnosis of @entity378 . The discrimination performance of @entity1199 assay (assessed by the area under ROC curve) between @entity9178 and @entity1 with active @entity378 were 0.75 and 0.8 following stimulation with rESAT-6 and rCFP-10, respectively. Maximum discrimination was reached at a cut-off of 11.6pg/mL for @entity1199 after stimulation with recombinant rESAT-6 with 72% sensitivity and 79% specificity and 10.7pg/mL for @entity1199 following stimulation with rCFP-10 with 75% sensitivity and 79% specificity, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that rESAT-6 and rCFP-10 can provide a sensitive and specific diagnosis of @entity378 . In addition, it was shown that @entity1199 may be serving as a marker for discriminating @entity9178 and active @entity378 .
