Circulating tuberculostearic acid in tuberculosis patients.

Abstract

Tuberculostearic acid (TBSA), a mycobacterial cell wall constituent, was measured in plasma samples using a highly sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography method. Plasma TBSA concentrations in patients with active tuberculosis (20 [0.5-347] nmol/l; n = 125) were higher than in patients with a variety of non-tuberculous pulmonary and extrapulmonary inflammatory conditions (0.1 [0-29] nmol/l; n = 116) and in healthy controls (0 [0-2] nmol/l; n = 102) (p = < 0.001). The calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for tuberculosis were 95.2%, 87.9%, 89.5% and 94.4%, respectively, indicating that assay of plasma TBSA might be a valuable complementary diagnostic tool.

• Authors: Friederike Traunmüller, Markus Alexander Zeitlinger, Brigitte Stoiser, Heimo Lagler, Haider Abdulla Abdel Salam, Elisabeth Presterl, Wolfgang Graninger
• Journal: Scandinavian journal of infectious diseases (Scand J Infect Dis) Vol. 35 Issue 11-12 Pg. 790-3 ( 2003) ISSN: 0036-5548 [Print] England
• PMID: 14723350 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers
• Stearic Acids
• tuberculostearic acid

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Biomarkers (blood)
• Case-Control Studies
• Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid (methods)
• Female
• Humans
• Incidence
• Male
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis (physiology)
• Predictive Value of Tests
• Probability
• Reference Values
• Risk Assessment
• Saudi Arabia (epidemiology)
• Sensitivity and Specificity
• Severity of Illness Index
• Statistics, Nonparametric
• Stearic Acids (analysis, metabolism)
• Tuberculosis (blood, diagnosis, epidemiology)