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The two tests for tuberculosis (TB) infection in clinical use include whole blood stimulation followed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (QuantiFERON-Test [QFT]) and enzyme-linked immunospot assay on isolated cells (T-SPOT.TB). Previous research has shown that patients with borderline negative QFT results may have positive T-SPOT.TB results and eventually develop TB reactivation. Such misclassification has detrimental consequences in patients falsely classified as negative by QFT before initiation of immunosuppressive therapy. Researchers sought to clarify borderline QFTs by measuring, in addition to γ-interferon (γ-IFN), a large panel of other cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors.
Of 195 patients enrolled, one third underwent QFT fo…