Assessment of the serodiagnostic potential of nine novel proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

To identify antigens that would improve the accuracy of serological diagnos is of active tuberculosis, we cloned the genes encoding nine potentially im munogenic secreted or surface-associated proteins of Mycobacterium tubercul osis. Recombinant proteins were reacted with sera from HIV-negative individ uals with extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EP-TB) or HIV-positive individuals w ith pulmonary tuberculosis (TBH). Specific and high level antibody response s were obtained for four recombinant proteins, of which antigen GST-822 was recognized by 60% of EP-TB and 42% of TBH and antigen MBP-506 was recogniz ed by 45% of EP-TB and 61% of TBH. These results suggest that these protein s are strong candidates as subunits in a polyvalent serodiagnostic test. (C ) 2001 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsev ier Science B.V. All rights reserved.