In the Future, A Simple Blood Test may Accurately Diagnose Tuberculosis

Jyothi Rengarajan, lead researcher of the study, said, "In order to reduce the burden of TB globally, identifying and treating all TB cases is a critical priority, but accurate diagnosis of active TB disease remains challenging and methods for monitoring how well a patient responds to the six-to nine-month long, four-drug regimen of anti-TB treatment, are highly inadequate. In this study, we have identified T cell bio-markers that accurately identify ATB patients. These bio-markers have the potential to lead to new blood-based diagnostics for TB as well as provide a set of tools for monitoring treatment response and cure. The findings show that blood-based bio-markers have the potential to accurately diagnose ATB and discriminate between ATB and LTBI. We are now interested in evaluating these bio-markers in larger studies in TB-endemic areas and across a roader spectrum of Mtb infection, including extra-pulmonary TB and in HIV-infected populations. Blood-based bio-markers will be particularly useful in situations where sputum-based diagnosis of TB is more difficult. Because these bio-markers provide a gauge of Mtb load within individuals, they could also have utility as surrogate markers of treatment response and as predictors of treatment efficacy, cure and relapse in patients undergoing treatment for drug-susceptible as well as drug-resistant TB."