ArticleBMC infectious diseases2020
A blood RNA transcript signature for TB exposure in household contacts.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gene signature discovery and systematic validation across diverse clinical cohorts for TB prognosis and response to treatment.PLoS computational biology · 2023Pooled it
- Identification of discriminative plasma protein biomarkers for recent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection: a pilot data‑independent acquisition mass spectrometry‑based proteomics study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Detection for New Biomarkers of Tuberculosis Infection Activity Using Machine Learning Methods.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The Impact of Animal Models and Strain Standardization on the Evaluation of Tuberculosis Vaccine Efficacy.Vaccines · 2025Review
- Article
- A Blood and Biochemical Indicator-Based Prognostic Model Predicting Latent Tuberculosis Infection: A Retrospective Study.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2025Article
- Advancement in diagnostic approaches for latent tuberculosis: distinguishing recent from remote infections.One health outlook · 2025Review
- Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist is a conserved early factor for exacerbating tuberculosis susceptibility.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Th9 cells provide protective TB immunity.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- An integrative and comprehensive analysis of blood transcriptomes combined with machine learning models reveals key signatures for tuberculosis diagnosis and risk stratification.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Metabolites enhance innate resistance to human Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.JCI insight · 2022Article
- Gene expression profiling identifies candidate biomarkers for new latent tuberculosis infections. A cohort study.PloS one · 2022Article
- Evaluation of Host Protein Biomarkers by ELISA From Whole Lysed Peripheral Blood for Development of Diagnostic Tests for Active Tuberculosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Article
- A blood RNA transcriptome signature for COVID-19.BMC medical genomics · 2021Article
- Validation of Differentially Expressed Immune Biomarkers in Latent and Active Tuberculosis by Real-Time PCR.Frontiers in immunology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCurrent tools for diagnosing latent TB infection (LTBI) detect immunological memory of past exposure but are unable to determine whether exposure is recent. We sought to identify a whole-blood transcriptome signature of recent TB exposure.
methodsWe studied household contacts of TB patients; healthy volunteers without recent history of TB exposure; and patients with active TB. We performed whole-blood RNA sequencing (in all), an interferon gamma release assay (IGRA; in contacts and healthy controls) and PET/MRI lung scans (in contacts only). We evaluated differentially-expressed genes in household contacts (log2 fold change ≥1 versus healthy controls; false-discovery rate < 0.05); compared these to differentially-expressed genes seen in the active TB group; and assessed the association of a composite gene expression score to independent exposure/treatment/immunological variables.
resultsThere were 186 differentially-expressed genes in household contacts (n = 26, age 22-66, 46% male) compared with healthy controls (n = 5, age 29-38, 100% male). Of these genes, 141 (76%) were also differentially expressed in active TB (n = 14, age 27-69, 71% male). The exposure signature included genes from inflammatory response, type I interferon signalling and neutrophil-mediated immunity pathways; and genes such as BATF2 and SCARF1 known to be associated with incipient TB. The composite gene-expression score was higher in IGRA-positive contacts (P = 0.04) but not related to time from exposure, isoniazid prophylaxis, or abnormalities on PET/MRI (all P > 0.19).
conclusionsTranscriptomics can detect TB exposure and, with further development, may be an approach of value for epidemiological research and targeting public health interventions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.