Evaluation of the QuantiFERON-Tuberculosis Gold Plus Assay in Children with Tuberculosis Disease or Following Household Exposure to Tuberculosis.

Interferon-gamma release assays are increasingly used in children to establish evidence of tuberculosis (TB) infection and to assist in the diagnosis of TB disease. The QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube assay is being phased out in favor of a next-generation test, the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) assay. The QFT-Plus assay is designed with two antigen tubes to differentially stimulate CD4 and CD8 T cells.

HIV Progression Perturbs the Balance of the Cell-Mediated and Anti-Inflammatory Adaptive and Innate Mycobacterial Immune Response.

Introduction: Our objective is to understand how HIV infection increases the risk of progression from latent tuberculosis (TB) to active disease. We understand now that immunity is a balance of competing immune responses by multiple cell types. Since T-lymphocyte production of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) antigens fails to differentiate disease from latent infection, we applied a comprehensive profiling methodology to define immune biomarkers that reliably predict a patient's TB risk.