The performance of the TBAg/PHA ratio in the diagnosis of active TB disease in immunocompromised patients

Objectives: The results of the T-SPOT. TB (T-SPOT) assay are reduced in immunocompromised patients with active tuberculosis (ATB), and it is difficult using T-SPOT results to distinguish ATB from latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in this condition. The aim of this study was to determine the performance of the TBAg/PHA ratio in T-SPOT assay in the diagnosis of ATB in immunocompromised patients. Methods: One hundred and forty three immunocompromised ATB patients and 124 LTBI individuals were diagnosed according to conventional tests and T-SPOT assay. Results: The results of T-SPOT assay are of no value in the diagnosis of ATB in immunocompromised patients. However, the number of phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) spot-forming cells (sfc) in T-SPOT assay was substantially decreased in immunocompromised ATB patients compared with that in LTBI individuals. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed that a further calculation of the TBAg/ PHA ratio (the larger of the ESAT-6/PHA and CFP-10/PHA) showed a better performance in distinguishing these two diseases. Using the threshold value of 0.316, the sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing immunocompromised ATB patients from LTBI individuals were respectively 79.21 and 94.05%. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the TBAg/PHA ratio might have some significance for the diagnosis of TB disease in immunocompromised patients. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases.