简介：Purifiedproteinderivative(PPD)skintestsoftenyieldpoorspecificity,sothattodevelopnewserologicalantigensfordistinguishingbetweenMycobacteriumtuberculosisinfectionandBacilleCalmette-Guerin(BCG)vaccinationisapriority,especiallyfordevelopingcountrieslikeChina.Wepredictedtheantigenicityforselectedopenreadingframes(ORFs)basedonthegenomesequencesofM.tuberculosisH37RvandM.bovisBCG,aswellastheirfunctionsanddifferencesofexpressionunderdifferentstimulus.ThecandidateORFswereclonedfromH37RvsequencesandexpressedasrecombinantproteinsinEscherichiacoli.Westudiedtheserodiagnosticpotentialof11purifiedrecombinantsbyusingenzyme-linkedimmunosorbentassay(ELISA)andinvolvingacohortcomposedof58TBpatients(34malesand24females),8healthyvolunteersand50PPD-negativeindividualsbeforeandafterBCGvaccination.Forallthe11antigens,themedianODvaluesfortheserafromTBpatientswerestatisticallysignificantlyhigherthanthoseforPPD-negativeindividualsbeforeorafterBCGvaccination(P<0.01).Theyhadatleast92%specificityinhealthycontrolsandsixseroantigens(Rv0251c,Rv1973,Rv2376c,Rv2537c,Rv2785candRv3873A)wereneverreportedwithseroantigenicitiespreviously.Thustheapproachcombiningcomparativegenomics,bioinformaticsandELISAtechniquescanbeemployedtoidentifynewseroantigensdistinguishingM.tuberculosisinfectionfromBCGvaccination.