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US 9,782,495 B2Granted
Proteins expressed by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and not by BCG and their use as diagnostic reagents and vaccines
AssigneeRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
InventorMaria Laura Gennaro
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to reagents useful for generating immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and for diagnosing infection and disease in a subject that has been exposed to M. tuberculosis.
Claims8
An in vivo method of diagnosis that discriminates between infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis-complex and vaccination by Bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG) strain of Mycobacterium bovis in a subject comprising:
- administering intradermally to the subject a diagnostic reagent, wherein the diagnostic reagent comprises at least two different antigens having Mycobacterium tuberculosis-complex specific immunogenic properties, wherein the at least two antigens are polypeptides corresponding to polypeptides or antigenic fragments of polypeptides of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis-complex that are not encoded by BCG, including at least one polypeptide selected from the group consisting of (i) a first polypeptide containing MTBN4 (SEQ ID NO:
- 4), (ii) a second polypeptide containing an antigenic segment of MTBN4 (SEQ ID NO:
- 4), (iii) a third polypeptide that is identical to said first polypeptide but wherein MTBN4 has conservative substitutions and retains Mycobacterium tuberculosis-complex specific antigenic properties;
- and (iv) a fourth polypeptide that is identical to said second polypeptide but wherein the antigenic segment of MTBN4 has conservative substitutions and retains Mycobacterium tuberculosis-complex specific antigenic properties;
- and
- determining whether or not there has been an immune response to said diagnostic reagent.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.