ArticlePloS one2018
Diagnostic performance of blood inflammatory markers for tuberculosis screening in people living with HIV.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Blinded trial of multiplex serodiagnostic test in India for diverse forms of active tuberculosis.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Advancements in laboratory diagnostics for HIV/MTB coinfection: Integrating conventional methods with emerging technologies.Practical laboratory medicine · 2025Review
- Diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care triage tests for pulmonary tuberculosis using host blood protein biomarkers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Non-sputum-based samples and biomarkers for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: the hope to improve childhood and HIV-associated tuberculosis diagnosis.European journal of medical research · 2024Review
- Analyses of blood-derived host biomarkers for pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosis in human immunodeficiency virus co-infected individuals in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in tuberculosis · 2024Article
- C-reactive protein and procalcitonin use in adults in low- and middle-income countries: a narrative review.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2023Review
- Pulmonary Functions and Inflammatory Biomarkers in Post-Pulmonary Tuberculosis Sequelae.Tuberculosis and respiratory diseases · 2022Article
- Prediction of Treatment Outcome with Inflammatory Biomarkers after 2 Months of Therapy in Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients: Preliminary Results.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Identification of candidate host serum and saliva biomarkers for a better diagnosis of active and latent tuberculosis infection.PloS one · 2020Article
- Interleukin 8 and Pentaxin (C-Reactive Protein) as Potential New Biomarkers of Bovine Tuberculosis.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2019Article
- IL-18/IL-37/IP-10 signalling complex as a potential biomarker for discriminating active and latent TB.PloS one · 2019Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
23 authors at 9 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundApproaches to screening for active tuberculosis (TB) among people living with HIV are inadequate, leading to missed diagnoses and poor implementation of preventive therapy.
methodsConsecutive HIV-infected adults hospitalized at Mulago Hospital (Kampala, Uganda) between June 2011 and July 2013 with a cough ≥ 2 weeks were enrolled. Patients underwent extensive evaluation for pulmonary TB. Concentrations of 43 cytokines/chemokines were measured at the same time point as C-reactive protein (CRP) in banked plasma samples using commercially-available multiplex kits. Advanced classification algorithms were used to rank cytokines/chemokines for their ability to identify TB, and to model the specificity of the top-ranked cytokines/chemokines individually and in combination with sensitivity constrained to ≥ 90% as recommended for TB screening.
resultsThe median plasma level of 5 biomarkers (IL-6, INF-γ, MIG, CRP, IL-18) was significantly different between patients with and without TB. With sensitivity constrained to 90%, all had low specificity with IL-6 showing the highest specificity (44%; 95% CI 37.4-49.5). Biomarker panels were found to be more valuable than any biomarker alone. A panel combining IFN-γ and IL-6 had the highest specificity (50%; 95% CI 46.7-53.3). Sensitivity remained high (>85%) for all panels among sputum smear-negative TB patients.
conclusionsDirect measurement of unstimulated plasma cytokines/chemokines in peripheral blood is a promising approach to TB screening. Cytokine/chemokine panels retained high sensitivity for smear-negative TB and achieved improved specificity compared to individual cytokines/chemokines. These markers should be further evaluated in outpatient settings where most TB screening occurs and where other illnesses associated with systematic inflammation are less common.
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