Ms. Imaz et E. Zerbini, Antibody response to culture filtrate antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis during and after treatment of tuberculosis patients, INT J TUBE, 4(6), 2000, pp. 562-569
Citations number
16
Categorie Soggetti
Cardiovascular & Respiratory Systems
Journal title
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TUBERCULOSIS AND LUNG DISEASE
SETTING: Many authors have shown rising titres of antimycobacterial antibod
ies after a few months of antituberculosis treatment. This humoral response
might persist for years, making the discrimination between current and old
disease difficult.
OBJECTIVE: Characterisation of the humoral response to culture filtrates of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis before and after treatment of tuberculous patie
nts in order to identify those antigens that could provide information abou
t disease activity.
METHODS: Anti-mycobacterial IgG response was determined during and after tr
eatment of tuberculous patients by ELISA and immunoblot. Serum was taken fr
om 71 active tuberculous patients (59 newly acquired and 12 relapse), 15 ol
d tuberculous patients and 45 nontuberculous control subjects.
RESULTS: By ELISA, antibody response increased after 2 months of treatment.
After chemotherapy was completed, the estimated number of antibodies remai
ned at the same level. The level of specific antibodies in patients seems t
o reach the same level as that of control subjects 3 years after initiation
of treatment. In Western blot, although each patient serum had its own cha
racteristic banding pattern, differences between tuberculous patients and c
ontrol subjects were found in the area below 20 kDa. Serum from tuberculous
patients showed high levels of antibodies at the 14 kDa region. After the
beginning of treatment, the intensity of the 14 kDa region band and the per
centage of positive recognition tended to decrease. Therefore, one year aft
er initiation of treatment, only seven of 13 cases who demonstrated antimyc
obacterial antibodies in ELISA revealed a mild but still positive reaction
at the 14 kDa region; this reactivity disappeared 2 years after initiation
of chemotherapy.
CONCLUSIONS: The 14 kDa region antigen seems to induce a humoral response t
hat evolves in relation with the disease activity.