Abstract

CASTRO, Claudia Marcela et al. Usefulness of a multiantigenic serological test for tuberculosis diagnostic . Biomédica [online]. 2005, vol.25, n.1, pp.55-64. ISSN 0120-4157.

Introduction. The heterogeneity observed in the antigenic recognition pattern of tuberculosis patients makes evident the necesity to search for a fast and readily technique for tuberculosis diagnosis. A test which involves different antigens could improve the sensitivity of the assay. Objective. The main objective of the present work is to evaluate a multi-antigen printing immunoassay (MAPIA) for the serogical diagnosis of tuberculosis. Methodology: Sera were obtained from 66 patients with tuberculosis disease verified clinically and bacteriologically and from 47 healthy individuals (control group) .Sample sera were used for detection of antibodies against 3 enriched mixtures of proteins and 5 unique recombinant antigens. Antigens were included in a solid matrix. Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of the test were evaluated and confirmed by a logistic regression analysis. From this analysis the reason of prevalence was obtained and used for the selection of the best antigenic combination Results: The sensitivity and specificity values of the individual antigens varied between 5-83% and 9-100%. The enriched mixtures values were better than those obtained with the recombinant antigens. The combinations of several antigens remarkably improved the sensitivity values until an 81%, but in most of the cases we obtained specificity values of 57%. Conclusions: the results obtained in the present work, suggest that this test could be useful for screening, but not like definitive test diagnostic.

Keywords : MAPIA; serologic test; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; antigen combination.

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