Researchers have developed a blood test which is ten times more effective than the current test for predicting whether a person exposed to tuberculosis (TB) will go on to develop the TB themselves.
The ‘three-gene’ test – looking at whether levels of BATF2, GBP5 and SCARF1 genes in the blood are elevated - correctly predicted whether a patient would go on to develop TB within a year of the test 50% of the time, compared with the figure of 5.8% using the current ‘interferon gamma release assay’ test.
Lead researcher, Professor Mahdad Noursadeghi, from the UCL Division of Infection and Immunity and supported by the BRC, said: “The results are really exciting because if we can predict more accurately who will and will not go on to develop TB, we can give treatment only to those people who need it. And treating these patients earlier, we can stop people from becoming unwell using less antibiotics and prevent the infection from spreading to other people.”
For the study, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers analysed existing patient datasets and noticed that elevated levels of the BATF2, GBP5 and SCARF1 genes in the blood were linked to a greater chance of developing TB. They then developed this observation into the ‘three-gene’ test which they validated in a study of 333 UK patients who had come into contact with someone with TB. Researchers followed these patients for an average of 346 days and found the test correctly predicted whether a patient would develop the disease 50% of the time.
Researchers said that they have paved the way for further studies to confirm the validity of the test in clinical trials.
