Differential gene expression of ASUN, NEMF, PTPRC and DHX29: Candidate biomarkers for diagnosis of active and latent tuberculosis.

INTRODUCTION: Tuberculosis (TB) remains as one of the most important infectious causes of death through the world. A wide range of technologies have been used for the diagnosis of TB. However, current diagnostic tests are inadequate. The aim of this study was to evaluate expression of four genes, namely ASUN, NEMF, PTPRC and DHX29 as candidate biomarkers for the discrimination of Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and active TB among individuals with active TB, LTBI, and healthy Bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccinated cases. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The expression of the mentioned four genes as well as ACTB as a housekeeping gene was evaluated by real-time PCR. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was conducted to assess the specificity and sensitivity of each validated biomarker. RESULTS: The results of real-time PCR presented that these four differentially expressed genes could be perceived as potential biomarkers for the detection of active and latent TB infections. ROC analysis showed that the expression level of ASUN, PTPRC and DHX29 may discriminate active TB patients from healthy individuals, whereas ASUN and NEMF could differentiate LTBI from healthy BCG vaccinated cases. In addition, DHX29 and PTPRC could be used to discriminate LTBI from active TB patients. CONCLUSION: Expression of these four host genes can accurately differentiate between active TB/LTBI cases and healthy individuals as well as between LTBI and active TB patients. However, our findings deserve further validation in larger studies.