Patent ID: 7572597
Filing Date: 2009-08-11
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A method of diagnosing in an individual a recent exposure to M. tuberculosis , said method comprising: (a) providing a T cell-containing sample from said individual; (b) contacting different aliquots of said sample separately with antigen compositions comprising either whole ESAT-6, or peptide epitopes derived from ESAT-6 that are 8 to 29 amino acids in length, in ELISPOT assays in order to determine the frequency of antigen-responsive T cells which have been induced to secrete a cytokine; and (c) evaluating the responsive T cells in each separate ELISPOT assay, wherein a positive response using whole ESAT-6 and a negative response using said peptide epitopes indicates that the individual has recently been exposed to