Assessment of the whole blood interferon-γ release assay in diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo evaluate the application of a whole blood interferon-γ (IFN-γ) release assay QuantiFERON-TB Gold In Tube (QFT-GIT) in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion.Methods IFN-γ released by specific T cells stimulated by early secreted antigenic target 6 × 103protein (ESAT-6),culture filtrate protein 10 (CFP -10) and TB7.7 were measured by QFT-GIT test in 44 tuberculous pleural effusion patients and 16 non-tuberculous pleurisy controls.The IFN-γ release level between groups was compared by Mann-Whitmey test.ResultsThe positive rates of QFT-GIT in patients with tuberculous pleural effusion and non tuberculous pleurisy were 95.5％ and 12.5％,respectively.The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of QFT-GIT were 95.6％,87.5％,95.6％ and 87.5％,respectively.The antigen-specific IFN-γ release level in the patients with tuberculous pleural effusion was significantly higher than that in non-tuberculous pleurisy controls (P＜0.01).Conclusions The whole blood INF-γ release assay QFT-GIT is a sensitive and specific assay for detecting pleural tuberculosis infection.It could be a useful diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion in China.