PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Seyhan, Ekrem
AU  - Köksalan, Kaya
AU  - Günlüoglu, Gülsah
AU  - Sökücü, Sinem
AU  - Veske, Nurdan
AU  - Akbas, Aysegül
AU  - Altin, Sedat
TI  - Evaluation of cut-off values of QuantiFERON-TB Gold, interferon gamma inducible protein-10 and tuberculin skin test in active tuberculosis diagnosis
DP  - 2012 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P425
VI  - 40
IP  - Suppl 56
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P425.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P425.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2012 Sep 01; 40
AB  - Aim: The diagnostic accuracy of interferongamma- based assays for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection may be improved by using lower cut-off values for the tuberculin skin testing (TST), QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT) and Interferon gamma inducible protein (IP)-10.Methods: A total of 70 adult TB patients and 81 healthy controls were included for this study.Three assays, TST, QFT and (IP)-10, were evaluated for their diagnostic performance with respect to different cut-off values. Test cut-offs were established based on receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.Results: The sensitivities of the assays were: TST 40 %, QFT 87 % and IP-10 85 %, while their specificities were TST 58 %, QFT 71 % and IP-10 74 %. Both QFT and IP-10 were significantly more specific than TST (both P< 0.001), but were similiar to each other (P > 0.5). Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that a cut-off value of 0.29 IU/ml for QFT and 1857 IU/ml for IP-10 maximises specificity without significant loss of test sensitivity. Using lower cut-off values for TST, however, also increased the sensitivity of the assay but resulted in a significant decrease in specificity.Conclusions: Lower cut-off values for TST, QFT and (IP)-10 increased the sensitivity of each assay, but a lower cut-off value for QFT and (IP)-10 could specificity be maintained.