Mycobacterium fortuitum glycolipids for the serodiagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis

Glycolipids belonging to the family of acylated trehaloses were isolated from Mycobacterium fortuitum, a rapidly growing mycobacterial species,and tested in the serologic diagnosis of human pulmonary tuberculosis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Di- and tri-O-acylated trehaloses from M. fortuitum reacted with serum antibodies-of patients wish pulmonary tuberculosis at higher titers than did with sera from healthy donors. With both glycolipids, the sensitivity of the test was above 0.80 at a chosen specificity of 0.98. Individuals with treated tuberculosis showed lower antibody titers compared with their initial reactivities. These data show that M. fortuitum could be used as a surrogate source of antigens for tuberculosis serodiagnosis.