Evaluation of heat shock proteins for discriminating between latent tuberculosis infection and active tuberculosis: A preliminary report

Summary The diagnosis of a latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is of the utmost concern. The available tests, the tuberculin skin test (TST) and the Quantiferon-TB Gold test (QFT-G) cannot discriminate between active TB and LTBI. Therefore, the aim of the study is to identify new biomarkers that can discriminate between active TB and LTBI and can also assess the risk of the individual developing active TB. In total, 55 blood samples were collected, of which 10 samples were from the active TB infection group, 10 were from the high-risk exposure group, 23 were from the low-risk exposure group, and 12 were from healthy controls living in a non-TB endemic area. A panel of heat shock proteins (Hsps), including host Hsp25, Hsp60, Hsp70, and Hsp90 and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) Hsp16, were evaluated in all of the collected samples using ELISA. The levels of the host Hsp(s) (Hsp25, Hsp60, Hsp70 and Hsp90) and MTB Hsp16 were significantly ( p