Proteomic analysis using Surface Enhanced Laser Desorption Ionisation Time of Flight (SELDI-ToF) mass spectrometry is a high throughput profiling methodology, which enables rapid comparison of protein patterns from large numbers of patients. The conceptual approach employed in the present study is termed proteomic fingerprinting. It is based on the principle that distinctive combinations of circulating proteins characterize different disease states. This strategy has been applied to the discovery of discriminatory proteomic patterns for a range of diseases including cancer [8] , vascular disease [9] [10] [11] and infectious diseases [12] [13] [14] [15] . Previously, we have demonstrated that proteomic patterns based on such profiles can distinguish active TB from healthy and symptomatic controls [12] .