Kekkaku : [Tuberculosis]
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The progress of genomic analysis in mycobacterium including M. tuberculosis (Mtb) allowed us to find Mtb-specific antigens, ESAT-6 and CFP-10, which induce strong interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) from sensitized T cells. Shortly after discovery of these antigens, diagnostic tests for tuberculosis (TB) infection were developed using these antigens. Since ESAT-6 and CFP-10 are absent from all BCG substrains and most of non-tuberculous mycobacterium, these diagnostic tests are not confounded with BCG vaccination and infection of most of non-tuberculosis mycobacterium. ⋯ In this mini-symposium, data on several questions in the QFT-2G test were presented. These included the application of QFT-2G to vulnerable individuals in immune system such as infants and HIV-positives, the effects of chemotheraphy on the QFT-2G test, the prognosis of development of active TB by QFT-2G, the next generation of QFT-2G, quality assurance of the QFT-2G test, and some problems of the current QFT-2G test. It should be important to research these questions and improve IGRAs based on the basic immunology.