Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Ulsan University Hospital, Ulsan, Korea.
Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2011 May;15(5):635-40. doi: 10.5588/ijtld.10.0485.
The QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT-G) test can be used to distinguish between tuberculosis (TB) and non-tuberculous mycobacterial disease, but a high background TB infection rate may pose a problem. Although the QuantiFERON-TB (QFT) test, the first-generation QFT-G test, employs a non-specific PPD antigen, avium sensitin is also used as a stimulating antigen.
To evaluate the utility of these two interferon gamma release assays (IGRAs), QFT-G and QFT, and the tuberculin skin test (TST), to differentiate TB from Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) disease in an intermediate TB burden country.
We compared the diagnostic performance of these three tests in 38 prospectively enrolled patients with TB and 40 with MAC lung disease.
The TST yielded positive results in 70.6% of TB and 47.5% of MAC patients; the proportions were respectively 89.5% and 34.3% for QFT-G and 86.8% and 35.3% for QFT. The three tests were of similar accuracy, sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing TB.
Our findings indicate that the TST and IGRAs could not discriminate between active TB and MAC disease or latent TB infection in a TB-endemic area.
QuantiFERON-TB Gold（QFT-G）检测可用于区分结核病（TB）和非结核分枝杆菌病，但高背景 TB 感染率可能会带来问题。虽然 QuantiFERON-TB（QFT）检测，即第一代 QFT-G 检测，采用非特异性 PPD 抗原，但也使用鸟分枝杆菌敏素来作为刺激抗原。
评估这两种干扰素释放检测（IGRAs），QFT-G 和 QFT，以及结核菌素皮肤试验（TST）在 TB 负担中等的国家中用于区分 TB 与鸟分枝杆菌复合群（MAC）疾病的效用。
我们比较了这三种检测方法在 38 例前瞻性纳入的 TB 患者和 40 例 MAC 肺部疾病患者中的诊断性能。
TST 在 70.6%的 TB 和 47.5%的 MAC 患者中呈阳性结果；QFT-G 和 QFT 的比例分别为 89.5%和 34.3%，86.8%和 35.3%。这三种检测方法在诊断 TB 方面的准确性、敏感性和特异性相似。
我们的研究结果表明，在 TB 流行地区，TST 和 IGRAs 无法区分活动性 TB 和 MAC 疾病或潜伏性 TB 感染。
