AUTHOR=Yu Xiaoli , Jiang Shengsheng , Li Yang , Zhou Huaiheng , Wei Yutong , Li Xuefang , Zhang Ye , Hu Peng , Wu Haoming , Wang Hualin , Wu Shimin , Zhang Shulin 

TITLE=Development of a new cellular immunological detection method for tuberculosis based on HupB protein induced IL-6 release test

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1148503

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2023.1148503

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=Abstract
Objective: As a virulence factor, HupB plays important roles in the survival of MTB after infection and modulates the host immune response. In the current study, we aim to explore a new cellular immunological detection method for tuberculosis infection detection based on HupB protein. 
Methods: HupB was used to stimulate PBMCs extracted from pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients, and secreted cytokines was examined. Then, we constructed a single center and a multi-center clinical trials to collect PBMCs from PTB patients, nPTB patients, or healthy volunteers to verify our findings.
Results: Cytokine’s screening illustrated that IL-6 was the only cytokine released after HupB stimulation. Single-center and multi-center clinical trials showed that HupB stimulation significantly increased the level of IL-6 in the supernatant of PBMCs from PTB patients. Then we compared the specificity and sensitivity of HupB induced IL-6 release assay with ESAT-6 and CFP10 induced interferon γ release assay (IGRA), and found in smear positive PTB patients, the specificity and sensitivity of HupB induced IL-6 release assay was better than IGRA, and in smear negative PTB patients, the sensitivity was better. Combination of both assays provided an improved specificity and sensitivity for tuberculosis diagnosis.
Conclusion: This study explored an immunological detection method for tuberculosis infection cells based on HupB protein-induced IL-6 release test, which can be used to enhance the diagnosis diagnostic accuracy of TB.