Tuberculosis patients are characterized by a low-IFN-γ/high-TNF-γ response to methylated HBHA produced in M. smegmatis

Whole blood from Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected subjects was stimulated with heparin-binding hemagglutinin (HBHA). Tuberculosis (TB) patients showed an HBHA-specific T-cell response characterized by low-IFN-γ/high-TNF-α secretion, while asymptomatic subjects with latent infection (LTBI) and TB patients under therapy showed a pattern with high IFN-γ/low TNF-α. These results underscore the usefulness of HBHA in helping to distinguish LTBI subjects versus TB patients.