CLINICAL STUDIES ON THE PHOSPHATIDE KAOLIN AGGLUTINATION TEST
1976 Volume 51 Issue 3 Pages 75-82
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1976 Volume 51 Issue 3 Pages 75-82
Many investigators have sought to establish a serological method for the diagnosis of tuberculosis. A serological test should make it possible to recognize active disease and to differentiate the disease due to M. tuberculosis from other non-tuberculous pulmonary diseases. All previously divised tests including the Middlebrook-Dubos hemagglutination test, Boyden test, the complement fixation test and the agar gel test, had some weak points.
Takahashi has shown in 1962 that antibody levels to phosphatide of tubercle bacilli correlate well with the severity of tuberculosis, and the sero-diagnosis is useful. Also he has shown that Kaolin particules could be used as appropriate surfaces for antigen-antibody reactions.
The test kit, which consisted of the antigen -aa methanol solution of tuberculous phosphatide, the Kaolin suspension, and the tris aminomethanemalate buffer containing EDTA, was kindly offered from the Daiichi Kagaku Yakuhin Co., and was used throughout the study.
A total of 558 serum specimens were tested. Group A comprized patients with possitive tubercle bacilli: Group B consisted of patients who were treated with antituberculous drugs, but bacteriological confirmation was not made, and Group C are non-tuberculous patients.
We found that 56.0 per cent of Group A were serologically possitive whereas 44 per cent of this group remained negative, and 27.9 per cent of Group B were positive, and 12 per cent of the Group C were positive.
In order to eliminate spontaneous agglutination which results in false positive readings, the test was set up in two series of tubes with non-sensitized and sensitized kaolin. By this method, the presence of non-specific agglutination in the specimen could be proved.
We could not find the close relationship between the clinical status of tuberculosis and the antibody titer of Takahashi Kaolin agglutination test. The combination of several kinds of serological tests might be needed to get higher positive rate for definitive diagnosis of tuberculosis.
