Circulating tuberculostearic acid in tuberculosis patients
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Updated: Aug 29, 2026

An Automated Culture System for Use in Preclinical Testing of Host-Directed Therapies for Tuberculosis
Published on: August 16, 2021
Friederike Traunmüller1, Markus Alexander Zeitlinger, Brigitte Stoiser
1Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University Hospital of Vienna, Austria. f.traunmueller@gmx.net
Abstract:
Tuberculostearic acid (TBSA), a mycobacterial cell wall constituent, was measured in plasma samples using a highly sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography method. Plasma TBSA concentrations in patients with active tuberculosis (20 [0.5-347] nmol/l; n = 125) were higher than in patients with a variety of non-tuberculous pulmonary and extrapulmonary inflammatory conditions (0.1 [0-29] nmol/l; n = 116) and in healthy controls (0 [0-2] nmol/l; n = 102) (p = < 0.001). The calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for tuberculosis were 95.2%, 87.9%, 89.5% and 94.4%, respectively, indicating that assay of plasma TBSA might be a valuable complementary diagnostic tool.
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