Evaluation of QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus for Predicting Incident Tuberculosis among Recent Contacts: A Prospective Cohort Study

The authors argue on the cohort study concerning the evaluation of QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus for predicting incident tuberculosis among recent contacts. A new-generation QuantiFERON (QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus; QFT-Plus) was recently launched, adding a second TB antigen tube (TB2) that incorporates short peptides designed to stimulate a CD8+ T-cell response, in addition to the CD4+ -response tube (TBI) included in previous versions. The proposed rationale for this is that CD8+ responses have been associated with mycobacterial load and recent TB exposure. In summary, in the first evaluation of the predictive value of QFT-Plus for incident TB, they found that its performance was comparable to that of other commercial IGRAs. Better biomarkers are required to transform management of TB contacts.