I-Corps: A Rapid Biomarker for Tuberculosis

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

As one half of the world's population is currently infected with the bacterium M. tuberculosis, this disease has a significant impact on morbidity and mortality, especially in the developing world. Latent infection with M. tuberculosis accounts for 95% of cases and is much more difficult to diagnose than active infection. However, diagnosing latently infected individuals is essential to controlling the disease within the population. This is especially true in at-risk patients including the elderly, immunosuppressed, health care workers, and HIV infected individuals. Current tests are able to diagnose latent infection but take up to 48 hours and require a return visit by the patient for diagnosis and/or treatment. Some of these tests also require access to laboratory equipment that is not easily accessible in the developing world, where the burden of TB is highest. This team has discovered a host immune response that allows for diagnosis of both latent and active tuberculosis by a simple test performed with a small amount of peripheral blood. The team's vision is to develop a rapid, low-cost diagnostic test for TB that would operate similar to a pregnancy test, to be utilized in hospitals and in the field by minimally trained healthcare workers. The proposed test can be run in 20 minutes, does not require expensive equipment or materials, and can distinguish between latent, active and uninfected individuals. The team would start out by developing a test that could be used in hospitals in the developed world, and then transition into a more rapid and easily usable test later. By the end of the I-Corps program the team hopes to know whether developing or developed countries represent the greater opportunity to pursue as a first market for the proposed diagnostic, and how to approach those potential customers.