short communication Have We Finally Turned the Corner in Rapidly Diagnosing Tuberculosis Infection and Disease?
Edward A. Graviss1*, Ye Hu2
1Houston Methodist Research Institute, Department of Pathology
and Genomic Medicine, USA
2Arizona State University, School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Virginia G. Piper Biodesign Center for Personalized Diagnostics, The Biodesign Institute, USA
*Corresponding authors: Edward A. Graviss, Associate Professor, Institute of Academic Medicine, Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 660 Bertner Avenue, R6-117, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Tel: +1-7134414323; Fax: +1-7134413599; Email: eagraviss@houstonmethodist.org
Received
Date: 27 February,
2018; Accepted Date: 07 March, 2018;
Published Date: 14 March, 2018
Citation: Graviss EA, Hu Y (2018) Have We Finally Turned the Corner in Rapidly Diagnosing Tuberculosis Infection and Disease? J Nanomed Nanosci: JNAN-142. DOI: 10.29011/2577-1477. 100042.
Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is the most prevalent and deadliest infectious diseases worldwide, accounting for 10.4 million new cases and nearly 1.7 million deaths in 2016 [1]. Conventional TB screening and diagnostics suffers from low sensitivity and specificity, high-cost, and time to results, including GeneXpert, TB acid fast culture and smear, the Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) and Interferon-Gamma Release Assays (IGRA). The use of rapid and reliable multiplexed detection methods to diagnose the spectrum of TB at its earliest stages of development and transcending from infection to disease are desperately needed. Significant work to this end (as described below) has begun with the utilization of nanoscience research.
Mtb-specific antigens, such as Early Secretory
Antigenic Target 6 (ESAT-6) and the Culture Filtrate Protein 10 (CFP-10), are
released into bodily fluids by actively replicating Mtb and can trigger chronic
human inflammatory mechanisms, both locally and systemically [2,3]. Currently, most of the detection of low-abundance
proteins in human bodily fluids still relies on mass identification
technologies, including electrophoresis and Mass Spectrometry (MS) which
requires separation and pre-purification steps [4]. New nanoscale approaches however are now being
developed and tested, focused upon improving and validating rapid,
cost-effective, and high-throughput assays to reach better sensitivity,
specificity, and more accurate quantification results for active and latent TB
identification [5-8].
By utilizing chemico-physical properties of nano porous
materials to isolate peptide signatures of diagnostic Mtb antigens and host
biomarkers, with cost-effective bench-top Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption
Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI TOF MS) and other
high-throughput techniques, the time of rapidly, quantitatively, and cost-effectively,
detecting and assessing potential Mtb diagnostic biomarkers is upon us.