Characterization of QuantiFERON-TB-Plus Results in Patients with Tuberculosis Infection and Multiple Sclerosis.

IF 3 Q2 CLINICAL NEUROLOGY

Neurology International Pub Date : 2025-08-02 DOI:10.3390/neurolint17080119

Elisa Petruccioli, Luca Prosperini, Serena Ruggieri, Valentina Vanini, Andrea Salmi, Gilda Cuzzi, Simonetta Galgani, Shalom Haggiag, Carla Tortorella, Gabriella Parisi, Alfio D'Agostino, Gina Gualano, Fabrizio Palmieri, Claudio Gasperini, Delia Goletti

{"title":"Characterization of QuantiFERON-TB-Plus Results in Patients with Tuberculosis Infection and Multiple Sclerosis.","authors":"Elisa Petruccioli, Luca Prosperini, Serena Ruggieri, Valentina Vanini, Andrea Salmi, Gilda Cuzzi, Simonetta Galgani, Shalom Haggiag, Carla Tortorella, Gabriella Parisi, Alfio D'Agostino, Gina Gualano, Fabrizio Palmieri, Claudio Gasperini, Delia Goletti","doi":"10.3390/neurolint17080119","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Background: Disease-modifying drugs (DMDs) for multiple sclerosis (MS) slightly increase the risk of tuberculosis (TB) disease. The QuantiFERON-TB-Plus (QFT-Plus) test is approved for TB infection (TBI) screening. Currently, there are no data available regarding the characterization of QFT-Plus response in patients with MS.Objectives: This study aimed to compare the magnitude of QFT-Plus responses between patients with MS and TBI (MS-TBI) and TBI subjects without MS (NON-MS-TBI). Additionally, discordant responses to TB1/TB2 stimulation were documented. Results were evaluated considering demographic and clinical data, particularly the impact of DMDs and the type of TB exposure.Methods: Patients with MS (N = 810) were screened for TBI (2018-2023). Thirty (3.7%) had an MS-TBI diagnosis, and 20 were recruited for the study. As a control group, we enrolled 106 NON-MS-TBI.Results: MS-TBI showed significantly lower IFN-γ production in response to TB1 (p = 0.01) and TB2 stimulation (p = 0.02) compared to NON-MS-TBI. The 30% of TB2 results of MS-TBI fell into the QFT-Plus grey zone (0.2-0.7 IU/mL). Only 7% of NON-MS-TBI showed this profile (p = 0.002).Conclusions: MS-TBI had a lower QFT-Plus response and more borderline results compared to NON-MS-TBI. Future studies should clarify the significance of the borderline results in this vulnerable population to improve QFT-Plus accuracy regarding sensitivity, specificity, and TB prediction.","PeriodicalId":19130,"journal":{"name":"Neurology International","volume":"17 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12389123/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Neurology International","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/neurolint17080119","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Disease-modifying drugs (DMDs) for multiple sclerosis (MS) slightly increase the risk of tuberculosis (TB) disease. The QuantiFERON-TB-Plus (QFT-Plus) test is approved for TB infection (TBI) screening. Currently, there are no data available regarding the characterization of QFT-Plus response in patients with MS.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the magnitude of QFT-Plus responses between patients with MS and TBI (MS-TBI) and TBI subjects without MS (NON-MS-TBI). Additionally, discordant responses to TB1/TB2 stimulation were documented. Results were evaluated considering demographic and clinical data, particularly the impact of DMDs and the type of TB exposure.

Methods: Patients with MS (N = 810) were screened for TBI (2018-2023). Thirty (3.7%) had an MS-TBI diagnosis, and 20 were recruited for the study. As a control group, we enrolled 106 NON-MS-TBI.

Results: MS-TBI showed significantly lower IFN-γ production in response to TB1 (p = 0.01) and TB2 stimulation (p = 0.02) compared to NON-MS-TBI. The 30% of TB2 results of MS-TBI fell into the QFT-Plus grey zone (0.2-0.7 IU/mL). Only 7% of NON-MS-TBI showed this profile (p = 0.002).

Conclusions: MS-TBI had a lower QFT-Plus response and more borderline results compared to NON-MS-TBI. Future studies should clarify the significance of the borderline results in this vulnerable population to improve QFT-Plus accuracy regarding sensitivity, specificity, and TB prediction.

Abstract Image

查看原文本刊更多论文

QuantiFERON-TB-Plus治疗肺结核感染和多发性硬化症的疗效

背景：多发性硬化症（MS）的疾病调节药物（dmd）会轻微增加结核病（TB）的风险。QuantiFERON-TB-Plus （QFT-Plus）检测被批准用于结核病感染（TBI）筛查。目前，没有关于MS患者QFT-Plus反应特征的数据。目的：本研究旨在比较MS合并TBI患者（MS-TBI）和非MS的TBI患者（NON-MS-TBI） QFT-Plus反应的大小。此外，记录了对TB1/TB2刺激的不一致反应。考虑人口统计学和临床数据，特别是dmd和结核暴露类型的影响，对结果进行了评估。方法：对810例MS患者（2018-2023年）进行TBI筛查。30例（3.7%）被诊断为多发性脑损伤，其中20例被纳入研究。作为对照组，我们招募了106名非ms - tbi患者。结果：与NON-MS-TBI相比，MS-TBI对TB1 （p = 0.01）和TB2刺激（p = 0.02）的IFN-γ产生明显降低。MS-TBI中30%的TB2结果处于QFT-Plus灰色地带（0.2 ~ 0.7 IU/mL）。只有7%的NON-MS-TBI患者表现出这种情况（p = 0.002）。结论：与NON-MS-TBI相比，MS-TBI具有较低的QFT-Plus反应和更多的边缘性结果。未来的研究应阐明在这一易感人群中边缘性结果的重要性，以提高QFT-Plus在敏感性、特异性和结核病预测方面的准确性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊