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Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Antigen-Specific Interferon-Gamma Release AssayAka: Tuberculosis Antigen-Specific Interferon-Gamma Release Assay

See Also
1. Tuberculosis
Indications
1. Mycobacterium tuberculosis testing
Mechanism
1. Lab assay specific for prior Mycobacterium tuberculosis exposure
2. Detects interferon-gamma release
  1. Originates from memory T-cells
  2. Released by cells previously sensitized to Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific proteins
Efficacy
1. Does not distinguish latent from active Tuberculosis
2. False negatives occur in immunocompromised patients
3. No false positives with prior BCG vaccination
4. No false positives with non-Tuberculosis Mycobacterium strains

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised on 10/25/2008 1:28:16 PM. This page was last published on 8/14/2009. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.