Clinical Evaluation of IP-10 and MIG for the Diagnosis of Active Tuberculosis Disease

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical potential of IP-10 and MIG as biomarkers of tuberculosis (TB) infection adding a comparison with IGRAs (QFT and T-SPOT.TB). Materials and Methods: The subjects consisted of 52 patients with active TB disease and 86 patients with non-TB disease. We measured two IGRAs using peripheral blood (PB), and IP-10 and MIG using the supernatant from whole blood stimulated with MTB (Mycobacterium tuberculosis)-specific antigens. Results: In the patient group with active TB disease, while the positive response rates of QFT and T-SPOT.TB were 81% and 87%, that of IP-10 using the supernatant was 88% and that of MIG was 85%. In the patient group with non-TB disease, the positive response rate of QFT was 13%, and that of T-SPOT.TB was 14%, IP-10 using the supernatant was 14%, and that of MIG was 14%. The IP-10 and MIG levels of the patients with active TB disease using the supernatant were significantly higher than those of the patients with non-TB disease. The combination of four diagnostic methods using the supernatant increased the positive response rate to 94%. Conclusion: IP-10 and MIG using a supernatant stimulated with MTB-specific antigens showed similar results to IGRAs. Therefore, these tests can be used as alternatives for the diagnosis of active TB disease.