Quantiferon-TB Gold in tube assay for the screening of tuberculosis before and during treatment with tumor necrosis factor alpha antagonists

Abstract

Introduction: The usefulness of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) release assays for tuberculosis screening before tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) antagonists and for monitoring during treatment is a contraversial issue. The aims of this study were to determine whether TNF-alpha antagonists affect the results of the Quantiferon-TB Gold in-tube assay (QTF); to assess how QTF performs in comparison with the tuberculin skin test (TST) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who are about to start treatment with TNF-alpha antagonists, RA patients who are not candidates for treatment with TNF-alpha antagonists, rheumatology patients with confirmed current or past tuberculosis infection, and healthy controls, and to determine the specificity of the QTF test to differentiate leprosy patients, another group of patients infected with mycobacteria.