IFN-γ release assays (IGRAs) have been developed as viable alternative diagnostic tools for detecting latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). A customized homogeneous sandwich luminescent oxygen channeling immunoassay (LOCI) was used to quantify IFN-γ levels in IGRAs. Samples were collected from healthy volunteers (n = 40) who were T-Spot-negative and T-Spot-positive patients (n = 32) at rest. Then the amount of IFN-γ in the supernatant of IGRAs was measured by LOCI. The results demonstrated a low background, and high sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and reproducibility, and a short assay time (only 30 min) with LOCI for IFN-γ. The recovery range was 81.63-102.06%, the coefficients of variation were below 5%, and the limit of detection was 19.0 mIU/ml. Excellent agreement between LOCI IFN-γ and the T-SPOT.TB test was obtained (97.2% agreement, κ = 0.94). The LOCI IFN-γ concentrations were significantly higher in T-Spot-positive patients than in the healthy group (p < 0.001). Moreover, as observed for the comparative LOCI IFN-γ assay, IFN-γ concentrations were related to the numbers of T-SPOT.TB spots. We have established an in vitro blood test for LTBI diagnosis, defined as LOCI IFN-γ. A high level of agreement between the LOCI IFN-γ method and T-SPOT.TB assay was observed in clinical studies that showed the LOCI IFN-γ method could determine LTBI. This study shows acceptable performance characteristics of the LOCI IFN-γ assay to diagnose LTBI.
Keywords: Interferon-gamma quantitative detection; Interferon-gamma release assay; LOCI technology; Latent tuberculosis infection.