DIAGNOSTIC REAGENTS FOR IMPROVED IN VIVO OR IN VITRO CELL-MEDIATED IMMUNOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS OF TUBERCULOSIS

摘要

The present invention discloses in vitro and in vivo diagnostic methods with enhanced specificity and sensitivity for the detection of tuberculosis. The diagnostic re agents of the present invention can replace former mixtures/cocktails/pools of antigens comprising ESAT-6 but including ESAT6 improves the diagnosis even further.

主权项

1: A diagnostic composition comprising a mixture of substantially pure polypeptides comprised of amino acid sequences selected from
a) Rv3874 (SEQ ID NO: 1), Rv3615 (SEQ ID NO: 2), and one or more amino acid sequences selected from Rv3865 (SEQ ID NO: 3), Rv2348 (SEQ ID NO: 4), Rv3614 (SEQ ID NO: 5), Rv2654 (SEQ ID NO: 6) and Rv3877 (SEQ ID NO: 7); b) fragments of Rv3874 (SEQ ID NO: 1), fragments of Rv3615 (SEQ ID NO: 2), and fragments of one or more amino acid sequences selected from Rv3865 (SEQ ID NO: 3), Rv2348 (SEQ ID NO: 4), Rv3614 (SEQ ID NO: 5), Rv2654 (SEQ ID NO: 6) and Rv3877 (SEQ ID NO: 7), said fragments comprising immunogenic epitopes from said amino acid sequences; c) a selected mixture of amino acids according to a) or a selected mixture of fragments according to b), wherein each of the amino acids in said selected mixture according to a) or each of the fragments in said selected mixture according to b) have at least 80% sequence identity to an amino acid of a) or a fragment of b) and at the same time is immunogenic.