The present invention relates to benzothiophene, benzyloxybenzylidene and indoline-2-one derivatives and the use of said derivatives in the treatment and/or prevention of tuberculosis.

A method of determining whether an individual is infected with mycobacteria. The method comprising the steps of (a) providing a system which comprises at least two different mycolic-acid derived antigens; (b) introducing a sample obtained from the individual into the system and into contact with each of the at least two different mycolic-acid derived antigens; and (c) detecting the presence or absence of the binding of a biomarker in the sample with each antigen in the system. The method may be particularly suitable for determining the presence or absence of a disease antibody indicative of infection with any disease caused by infection with mycobacteria, for example tuberculosis, leprosy, pulmonary disease, burili ulcer, Johne's disease and bovine tuberculosis. A kit and device are also described. The present invention may provide an over the counter device to allow individuals to check on a routine basis that they have normal immune responses.

The present invention relates to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M tuberculosis) proteins and immunologically active fragments (peptides or mimotope peptides) thereof. In particular, the invention relates to a group of M. tuberculosis proteins and peptides thereof that are both highly antigenic and characteristic of clinical strains of M. tuberculosis. Accordingly, the further relates to the use of these M. tuberculosis proteins or peptides in diagnosing, treating or preventing M. tuberculosis complex infection.

There is provided methods of determining tuberculosis (TB) infection status in an individual comprising: (i) providing a sample comprising T-cells; (ii) exposing the sample of (i) to one or more TB antigens; (iii) identifying T-cells in the sample that are CD4 positive and (a) secrete TNF-α without secreting IFN-γ; or (b) secrete IFN-γ without secreting TNF-α; (iv) identifying those cells of (iii) which are also CCR7 and, CD127 negative; and optionally (v) calculating the cells identified in (iv) as a percentage of those identified in (iii); wherein the identification of cells in (iv) and/or the percentage of T-cells calculated in (v) correlates to TB infection status of the individual, and wherein steps (iii) and (iv) can be carried out either sequentially or simultaneously. There are also provided compositions and kits for use in such methods.

A method to diagnose bacterial infection, including phenotyping cell based resistant mycoplasm, amplification and identification of infection, and performing at least one assay on a cell culture.

A method for detection of antibodies in a biological sample. The method includes steps of: immobilizing antigens specific to the antibodies between at least two electrodes; binding the antibodies from the biological sample to the antigens; binding probes linked with an enzyme to the antibodies; exposing the enzyme to a metal substrate; depositing a metal layer based on exposing the enzyme to the metal substrate; measuring an electrical property of the metal layer between a first electrode of the at least two electrodes and a second electrode of the at least two electrodes; and detecting, based on measuring the electrical property of the metal layer, the antibodies in the biological sample.

The present invention broadly provides different compositions, kits, vectors, and methods including monoclonal antibodies directed to epitopes found within lipoarabinomannan (LAM) and phosphatidyl-myo-inositol mannoside 6 (PIM6) for the diagnosis and treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections.

Provided herein are nanoparticles configured for the rapid detection of disease-specific peptides from patient samples, including blood-based samples. Also provided are methods of measuring the level of an infection by isolation and quantification of disease-specific peptides from patient samples. The nanoparticles may act as a co-matrix for matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry.

An object of the present invention is to provide an immunochromatographic kit and a method, which are capable of detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis with high-sensitivity and specificity. According to the present invention, an immunochromatographic kit for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis is provided, the kit including: a label substance modified with a first antibody against lipoarabinomannan; a porous carrier having a reaction site holding a second antibody against lipoarabinomannan; a compound containing silver; and a reducing agent reducing silver ions, in which at least one of the first antibody or the second antibody is a monoclonal antibody.

A method of identifying a Mycobacterium using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), disclosed herein, comprises disposing a sample suspected to comprise a Mycobacterium on a SERS-active substrate, detecting surface enhanced Raman signals corresponding to an alpha-mycolic acid, a methoxy-mycolic acid, and a keto-mycolic acid from the sample disposed on the SERS-active substrate, and determining one or more ratios of intensity of the surface enhanced Raman signals to identify the Mycobacterium. Disclosed herein also includes a method of detecting a mycobacterial disease using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), the method comprising identifying a Mycobacterium according to the method described above, and determining the mycobacterial disease based on the Mycobacterium identified.