TB Diagnosis May Be Improved With New Three-Gene Panel

A three-gene set can robustly diagnose active tuberculosis (TB) from whole blood samples, according to a study published in the March issue of The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. The authors say that the three-gene set represents an improvement over current diagnostics because it is based on peripheral blood rather than sputum samples, it performed well in the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis versus culture-positive active tuberculosis in children, and HIV status did not change its diagnostic power. “The multiple gene expression diagnostics that have been derived all suggest that host-response gene expression assays are likely to eventually play an important role in TB diagnostics,” writes lead author Timothy Sweeney, M.D., from Stanford University. TB remains a large, worldwide public health issue with nearly 10 million new infections per year. Yet, active pulmonary disease remains difficult to diagnose and treatment response is difficult to monitor. Traditional methods such as skin testing and interferon γ release assays are unable to distinguish between latent and active disease. Even newer technology has challenges (sputum-based, reduced accuracy in HIV-positive patients, and not applicable for treatment response monitoring). The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for new non-sputum diagnostics to meet the targets for TB prevention, care, and […]