Project description:Validation of gene expression levels to assess classification of TB patients and healthy controls qPCR gene expression profiling. Whole blood gene expression from TB patients (positive in GenXpert assay) and healthy controls; both tuberculin skin test positive (TSTpos) and -negative (TSTneg).
Project description:The aim of this study was to compare the transcriptional response to TB in regions of different incidence / prevalence. Experimental Design: Whole blood collected in tempus tubes from patients with different spectra of TB disease. All patients were sampled prior to the initiation of any antimycobacterial therapy. Active Pulmonary TB: PTB - All patients confirmed by isolation of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis on culture of sputum. Latent TB: LTB - All patients were screened at a tuberculosis clinic. All were positive by Interferon-Gamma Release assay(IGRA); specifically Quantiferon Gold In-Tube Assay (Cellestis, Australia). Latent patients had no clinical, or microbiological evidence of active infection and were asymptomatic. Experimental Variables: Patient group: Active PTB; Latent TB. There are no healthy controls in this dataset as it was being used for validation only. Controls: Latent TB individuals are used as a control for PTB in this dataset since there are few to no unexposed adult controls in Cape Town.