Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Specificity of the tuberculin skin test is modified by use of a protein cocktail containing ESAT-6 and CFP-10 in cattle naturally infected with Mycobacterium bovis.
- Journal:
- Clinical and vaccine immunology : CVI
- Year:
- 2012
- Authors:
- Flores-Villalva, S et al.
- Affiliation:
- Laboratorio de Investigació
Plain-English summary
Researchers studied a new skin test for tuberculosis in cattle, using a special mix of proteins called ESAT-6 and CFP-10. These proteins are found in cattle that have tuberculosis but are not present in healthy cattle or most other environmental bacteria, which makes this test potentially more accurate than the traditional method. They tested different amounts of this protein mix and found that a dose of 10 micrograms worked best. When they tried this test on herds with different levels of tuberculosis, it was able to identify many infected animals that the old test missed, especially in herds with fewer cases. The new test did not cause any reactions in healthy cattle or those with a different infection, and adding another protein, MPB83, did not improve the results. Overall, the new protein cocktail shows promise for better diagnosing tuberculosis in cattle.
Abstract
The mycobacterial immunodominant ESAT-6 and CFP-10 antigens are strongly recognizable in tuberculosis-infected cattle, and they do not elicit a response in cattle without infection. In addition, they are absent in most environmental mycobacterial species, and therefore, their use can be an alternative to purified protein derivative (PPD) tuberculin in the development of a more specific skin diagnostic test in cattle. The aim of the current study was to assess the potential of an ESAT-6 and CFP-10 (E6-C10) protein cocktail in a skin test format in naturally tuberculosis-infected and paratuberculosis-infected cattle. We also included MPB83 as a third component in one of the protein cocktail preparations. The protein cocktail was tested at different dose concentrations (5, 10, and 15 μg per protein). The best skin response to the E6-C10 protein cocktail was obtained with 10 μg. Subsequently, this concentration was tested in 2 herds with high and low bovine tuberculosis prevalence, the latter with paratuberculosis coinfection. Our data show that the E6-C10 cocktail allows identification of an important proportion of animals that PPDB is not able to recognize, especially in low-prevalence herds. The protein cocktail did not induce reactions in tuberculosis-free cattle or in paratuberculosis-infected cattle. Addition of MPB83 to the protein cocktail did not make any difference in the skin reaction.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22419675/