First independent evaluation of QuantiFERON-TB Plus performance. Issue 5 (12th February 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Barcellini, Lucia; Borroni, Emanuele; Brown, James; Brunetti, Enrico; Codecasa, Luigi; Cugnata, Federica; Dal Monte, Paola; Di Serio, Clelia; Goletti, Delia; Lombardi, Giulia; Lipman, Marc; Rancoita, Paola M.V.; Tadolini, Marina; Cirillo, Daniela M.
• Is Part Of: European respiratory journal. Volume 47:Issue 5(2016)
• Page Start: 1587
• Page End: 1590
• Publication Date: 2016-02-12
• Subjects: Respiratory organs -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Respiration -- Periodicals; 616.2
• DOI: 10.1183/13993003.02033-2015
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0903-1936

Abstract

Tuberculosis elimination requires an effective strategy to diagnose and treat people infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis who would otherwise be at high risk of developing and transmitting active disease [1, 2]. The diagnostic tools for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) are the tuberculin skin test (TST) and the T-cell interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs). Two IGRAs are commercially available, QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) and T-SPOT.TB (Oxford Immunotec, Abingdon, UK). Compared to the TST, IGRAs offer operational advantages and higher specificity in the bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG)-vaccinated population [3], and they are at least as sensitive for LTBI [4]. However, IGRAs have limitations: reduced sensitivity in children and immunocompromised subjects, including HIV-infected individuals [3, 4]; failure to discriminate between active tuberculosis and LTBI; and poor correlation with the risk of progression to active disease [3]. QuantiFERON-TB Plus improves sensitivity for active TB and maintains high specificity among unvaccinated controls http://ow.ly/XjYPK