Under the Grand Challenges in Global Health Program
supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, there is a
program involving 5 African nations-The Gambia, Malawi,
South Africa, Ethiopia and Uganda (http://www.biomarkersfor-tb.net/).
These five countries are all affected considerably
by M. tuberculosis and HIV [32]. The studies include
newly diagnosed pulmonary TB patients and their household
contacts with positive tuberculin skin test along with
major other cohorts. The strategy of this study is to adapt a
surrogate endpoint for a phase 2/3 clinical trials with new
vaccines and drugs against TB. There was no sensitive and
specific biomarker for TB infection, disease progression and
predicting the prognosis of treatment. Of the 350 metabolites
identified till date most are host derived. However, if
these can be combined with a few of TB marker, forming a
biosignature, it may allow to discriminate not only between
healthy and diseased individuals but also, distinguish diseases
unrelated to M. tuberculosis infection.
RNA expression signatures provided data that helped distinguish
TB from other diseases in African children with