Tuberculosis patients are characterized by a low-IFN-\u3b3/high-TNF-\u3b1 response to methylated HBHA produced in M. smegmatis

Whole blood from Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected subjects was stimulated with heparin-binding hemagglutinin (HBHA). Tuberculosis (TB) patients showed an HBHA-specific T-cell response characterized by low-IFN-\u3b3/high-TNF-\u3b1 secretion, while asymptomatic subjects with latent infection (LTBI) and TB patients under therapy showed a pattern with high IFN-\u3b3/low TNF-\u3b1. These results underscore the usefulness of HBHA in helping to distinguish LTBI subjects versus TB patients