Humoral response to defined epitopes of tubercle bacilli in adult pulmonary and child tuberculosis
- 1 October 1988
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
- Vol. 7 (5), 639-645
- https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01964242
Abstract
In order to investigate the humoral response to tuberculosis in different categories of patients, serum antibody levels to six epitopes ofMycobacterium tuberculosis in adult pulmonary and child tuberculosis were determined. Serum antibody titres were determined by competitive inhibition with radio-labelled murine monoclonal antibodies in 67 adults and 85 children with tuberculosis and in 79 age-matched controls. BCG vaccination (n=39) and self-healed tuberculosis (n=11) in adults gave rise to higher antibody titres to TB68, TB23 and TB72 epitopes (all p−4). The diagnostic sensitivity, with a 95 % specificity, was best with the combination of probes TB23, TB68, TB72 for sputum-positive (85 %) and TB78, ML34 (53 %) for sputum-negative patients. Antibody titres in children with tuberculosis were lower than in adult patients; diagnostic sensitivity in histologically or microbiologically proven cases (n=18) was only 44 %, while that in mediastinal lymphadenitis (n=67) was 13.5 %. This study suggests that the magnitude and specificity of the humoral response to tubercle bacilli varies with site and severity of infection; the implications for pathogenesis or protective immunity are discussed.This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit:
- Appraisal of the monoclonal antibody-based competition test for the serology of tuberculosis in IndonesiaSerodiagnosis and Immunotherapy in Infectious Disease, 1987
- The 65kDa antigen of mycobacteria—a common bacterial protein?Immunology Today, 1987
- T cells expressing delayed-type hypersensitivity can be derived from a humorally immune lymphocyte populationEuropean Journal of Immunology, 1987
- Studies with Monoclonal Antibodies to MycobacteriaPublished by Elsevier BV ,1985
- Is the delayed-type hypersensitivity observed after a low dose of antigen mediated by helper T cells?The Journal of Immunology, 1983
- The use of murine monoclonal antibodies without purification of antigen in the serodiagnosis of tuberculosisJournal of Immunological Methods, 1982
- BCG test in the diagnosis of tuberculosis in children.1982
- ANTIGENIC DIVERSITY OF MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS AND MYCOBACTERIUM BOVIS DETECTED BY MEANS OF MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIESThe Lancet, 1981
- Antibodies to Mycobacteria in Human Tuberculosis. I. Development of Antibodies Before and After Antimicrobial TherapyThe Journal of Infectious Diseases, 1980
- Detection of antibodies to mycobacterium tuberculosis by solid phase radioimmunoassayJournal of Immunological Methods, 1975