Preparation of Culture Filtrate Proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Culture filtrates obtained by in vitro cultivation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis have been studied for more than 20 years to identify and characterize proteins of immunological relevance. Culture filtrate preparations have been shown to induce a protective immune response in mice and guinea pigs by several groups (1-4). Stimulated by these findings, the isolation and evaluation of culture filtrate antigens have been the subjects of intensified effort in several laboratories in recent years. This work has resulted in an increasing number of novel antigens such as MPT59 (5-7), ESAT-6 (8), MPT64 (9), MTB12 (10), MTB8.4 (11), CFP29 (12), TB10.4 (13), among several others.