1Deptt. of Biochemistry, Agartala Govt. Medical College, P.O. Kunjaban, Agartala, Tripura-799 006, India.
2Jamnalal Bajaj Tropical Disease Research Centre, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sevagram, Wardha-442 102, Maharashtra, India.
Background: The choice of antigen is the major determinant for the success of any serological test. A wide variety of antigens have been applied. The most pronounced specific antibody, which correlated with active disease was IgG.
Aim: To explore the ultility of M.tbH37RaES – 31 as a simple and rapid test for the immunodiagnosis of Pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis.
Methods: Immunoscreening was done by ELISA for the samples from the patients admitted in Kastruba Hospital, Sevagram. Blood samples of patients of Pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis were examined for presence of tuberculosis specific antibody and antigen. Antigen preparation namely M.tbH37RaES – 31 was used for the detection of tubercular IgG antibody whereas affinity purified anti ES-31 antibody was used for tubercular circulating free and immune complexed (CIC) antigen.
Discussion and Conclusion: Results of positivity with higher percentage were observed in all the cases - pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB i.e. in the bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary TB cases e. g. 90% was positive for IgG antibody and circulating free antigen detection and 95% for CIC antigen detection. Again, e.g. in abdominal TB (one of the extrapulmonary TB), our assay system could detect 71% cases for IgG antibody, 67% cases for circulating tubercular antigen and 76% for CIC antigen. The use of ES-31 antigen and affinity purified Anti ES-31antibody for detecting tuberculosis may be the recommended candidate for the early diagnosis of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis, as the positivity was quite appreciable in our studies conducted in comparison with other methods commonly used in detecting tuberculosis and it would be the more authentic on performance of all the tests of three parameters i.e. ES-31antigen, affinity purified anti ES-31 antibody and CIC- antigen, as a single parameter is not sufficient to confirm tuberculosis in comparison with all the three parameters collectively.
Pulmonary, Extrapulmonary, Tuberculosis, ELISA, ES–31
