Antiendomysial and antihuman recombinant tissue transglutaminase antibodies in the diagnosis of coeliac disease: a biopsy-proven European multicentre study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the value of serum antitissue transglutaminase IgA antibodies (IgA-TTG) and IgA antiendomysial antibodies (IgA-EMA) in the diagnosis of coeliac disease in cohorts from different geographical areas in Europe. The setting allowed a further comparison between the antibody results and the conventional small-intestinal histology. METHODS: A total of 144 cases with coeliac disease [median age 19.5 years (range 0.9-81.4)], and 127 disease controls [median age 29.2 years (range 0.5-79.0)], were recruited, on the basis of biopsy, from 13 centres in nine countries. All biopsy specimens were re-evaluated and classified blindly a second time by two investigators. IgA-TTG were determined by ELISA with human recombinant antigen and IgA-EMA by an immunofluorescence test with human umbilical cord as antigen. RESULTS: The quality of the biopsy specimens was not acceptable in 29 (10.7%) of 271 cases and a reliable judgement could not be made, mainly due to poor orientation of the samples. The primary clinical diagnosis and the second classification of the biopsy specimens were divergent in nine cases, and one patient was initially enrolled in the wrong group. Thus, 126 coeliac patients and 106 controls, verified by biopsy, remained for final analysis. The sensitivity of IgA-TTG was 94% and IgA-EMA 89%, the specificity was 99% and 98%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Serum IgA-TTG measurement is effective and at least as good as IgA-EMA in the identification of coeliac disease. Due to a high percentage of poor histological specimens, the diagnosis of coeliac disease should not depend only on biopsy, but in addition the clinical picture and serology should be considered.

Human oesophagus: A convenient antigenic substrate for the determination of anti-endomysium antibodies in the serological diagnosis of coeliac disease

SCOPUS: ar.j

Development of a new blood test based on the helper lymphocytes Th-17 response for the diagnosis of allergies to dental metals: Preliminary results

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Development of a new blood test for the diagnosis of the allergies to dental metals

Congrès du GIRSO, Lille, avril 2011

Evaluation of a WHO-Validated Serotype-Specific Serological Assay for the Diagnosis of Pneumococcal Etiology in Children with Community-Acquired Pneumonia.

BACKGROUND: The etiologic diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains challenging in children because blood cultures have low sensitivity. Novel approaches are needed to confirm the role of Streptococcus pneumoniae. METHODS: In this study, pneumococcal aetiology was determined by serology using a subset of blood samples collected during a prospective multicentre observational study of children <15 years of age hospitalised in Belgium with X-ray-confirmed CAP. Blood samples were collected at admission and 3-4 weeks later. Pneumococcal (P)-CAP was defined in the presence of a positive blood or pleural fluid culture. Serotyping of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates was done with the Quellung reaction. Serological diagnosis was assessed for nine serotypes using World Health Organization validated IgG and IgA serotype-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). RESULTS: Paired admission/convalescent sera from 163 children were evaluated by ELISA (35 with proven P-CAP and 128 with non proven P-CAP). ELISA detected pneumococci in 82.8% of patients with proven P-CAP. The serotypes identified were the same as with the Quellung reaction in 82% and 59% of cases by IgG ELISA and IgA ELISA, respectively. Overall, ELISA identified a pneumococcal aetiology in 55% of patients with non-proven P-CAP. Serotypes 1 (51.6%), 7F (19%), and 5 (15.7%) were the most frequent according to IgG ELISA. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the serological assay allows recognition of pneumococcal origin in 55% of CAP patients with negative culture. This assay should improve the diagnosis of P-CAP in children and could be a useful tool for future epidemiological studies on childhood CAP etiology.

Long- incubation time- interferon-gamma release assays in response to PPD-, ESAT-6- and/or CFP-10 for the diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in children.

Background:Diagnosis of childhood active tuberculosis (aTB) or latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection (LTBI) remains a challenge, and replacement of tuberculin skin tests (TST) by commercialized interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) is not currently recommended.Methods:266 children between 1 month and 15 years of age, 214 being at risk of recent Mtb infection and 51 being included as controls, were prospectively enrolled. According results of clinical evaluation, TST, chest X-Ray and microbiology, children were classified as non-infected, LTBI or aTB. Long-incubation time PPD-, ESAT-6-, and CFP-10-IGRA were performed and evaluated for their accuracy to correctly classify the children.Results:Whereas both TST and PPD-IGRA were suboptimal to detect aTB, combining CFP-10-IGRA with TST or with PPD-IGRA allowed us to detect all the children with aTB, with 96% specificity for children who were positive for CFP-10-IGRA. Moreover, combination of CFP-10- and PPD-IGRA also detected 96% of children classified as LTBI, but a strong IFN-γ response to CFP-10 (>500 pg/ml) was highly suggestive of aTB at least among children less than 3 years old.Conclusions:Long-incubation time CFP-10- and PPD-IGRA should help the clinicians to identify quickly aTB or LTBI in young children.

Tuberculin skin test versus blood immunologic diagnosis of latent mycobacterium tuberclosis infection among old subjects

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Rapid immunological diagnosis of active tuberculosis, and differentiation from asymptomatic infection

info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Recent input for flow cytometry in the diagnosis of primary immune deficiencies

info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Diagnosis of tuberculosis: update of interferon gamma release tests in clinical practice

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HBHA-induced interferon-gamma release assay for the diagnosis of both latent and active tuberculosis.

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Seroprotection against tetanus in patients attending an emergency department in Belgium and evaluation of a bedside immunotest.

BACKGROUND: In most emergency departments, tetanus prophylaxis currently relies on vaccination history. Bedside evaluation of tetanus immunity may improve this process. OBJECTIVES: (i) To determine the seroprevalence of tetanus immunity; (ii) to evaluate the accuracy of vaccination history in assessing tetanus immunity; (iii) to identify factors predictive of seroprotection and incorrect history. METHOD: In a prospective observational study, tetanus immunity was assessed in 784 adults using Tétanos Quick Stick (TQS). A questionnaire was completed to obtain vaccination and general histories. Immunity assessed by TQS and by vaccination history were compared with anti-tetanus antibody levels measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (seroprotection threshold >0.15 IU/ml). RESULTS: Overall, 64.2% of patients were protected according to TQS results. Four independent predictors of seroprotection were identified: young age, birthplace in Belgium, male sex and occupational medicine consultation. TQS performance was good: kappa=0.71, sensitivity 85.3%, specificity 87.2%, positive predictive value 92.1% and negative predictive value 77.2%. Seven hundred and sixty-two participants responded to the vaccination history: 23.4% said they were protected, 22.1% that they were not and 54.5% did not know. History performance was poor: kappa=0.27, sensitivity 60.3%, specificity 73.3%, positive predictive value 81.8% and negative predictive value 45.8%. Compared with history, TQS offered a significantly better sensitivity, negative and positive predictive values, but specificity was similar. No predictor of an incorrect history was identified. CONCLUSION: Lack of protective immunity against tetanus is frequent but poorly evaluated by history taking. Several demographic characteristics are good predictors of seroprotection. TQS could be a valuable tool in selected patients to improve tetanus prophylaxis in the emergency department.

Seroprotection against tetanus in patients of an an emergency department in Belgium and evaluation of a bedside immunotest (Tetanos Quick Stick R).

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Seroprotection against tetanus in patients of an an emergency department in Belgium and evaluation of a bedside immunotest (Tetanos Quick Stick R). A prospective observational study

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Seroprotection against tetanus in patients présenting to an emergency department in Belgium and evaluation of a bedside immunotest (Tetanos Quick Stick R): A prospective observational study

info:eu-repo/semantics/published