Agreement of SLD testing in different laboratories in phase I and phase II of the “Baltic-Nordic TB-Laboratory Network” study.

<p>PAS, p-amino salicylic acid.</p

Methods applied in the different laboratories in both phases of SLD proficiency testing (“Baltic-Nordic TB-Laboratory Network” study).

*<p>some laboratories used more than one method.</p><p>PAS, p-amino salicylic acid.</p><p>LJ, Löwenstein Jensen; MIC, minimal inhibitory concentration.</p

Agreement of SLD results between laboratories in the “Workpackage 3 of the FP7 TB PAN-NET”.

*<p>All strains were tested in three rounds of testing: round 1 (n = 13), in the intermediate round (n = 11), and in round 2 of the “Workpackage 3 of the FP7 TB PAN-NET”.</p>**<p>All laboratories applied line probe assays, some additionally DNA sequencing methods.</p>***<p>The majority of laboratories applied MGIT 960 DST, some the proportion method on solid media, but the data are incomplete; intermediate level strains were excluded from this analysis.</p

Compilation of strains in round 1 of the WP3 of the TB PAN-NET” project.

<p>Compilation of strains in round 1 of the WP3 of the TB PAN-NET” project.</p

Certificates issued for a succesful EQA round.

<p>Certificates issued for a succesful EQA round.</p

Agreement of SLD results between laboratories in the four rounds of quality control.

*<p>The majority of laboratories applied MGIT 960 DST, only one laboratory performed the proportion method on solid media, but the data are incomplete.</p>**<p>susc. = susceptible, res. = resistant; intermediate level strains were excluded from this analysis.</p>***<p>n.d. = not done.</p

Image_2_Mycobacterium Growth Inhibition Assay of Human Alveolar Macrophages as a Correlate of Immune Protection Following Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette–Guérin Vaccination.JPEG

Background<p>In order to eliminate tuberculosis (TB), an effective vaccine is urgently needed to prevent infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A key obstacle for the development of novel TB vaccines is the lack of surrogate markers for immune protection against M. tuberculosis.</p>Methods<p>We investigated growth rates of M. tuberculosis in the mycobacterial growth inhibition assay (MGIA) as a marker for mycobacterial growth control of human bronchoalveolar lavage (BALC) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) before and after vaccination with Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG) of healthy adult volunteers.</p>Results<p>Vaccination induced a positive response (p < 0.001) to purified protein derivate (PPD) in 58.8% of the individuals in an interferon-γ release assay-ELISpot. Intraindividual evaluation of the MGIA growth rates before and after M. bovis BCG-vaccination revealed no significant difference in time to culture positivity before and after vaccination in BALC (p = 0.604) and PBMC (p = 0.199). The magnitude of the PPD-response induced by M. bovis BCG-vaccination did not correlate with growth control in BALC and PBMC (correlation = 0.468, 95% CI: −0.016 to 0.775).</p>Conclusion<p>In conclusion, M. bovis BCG-vaccination-induced mycobacterial-specific cytokine immune response does not result in functional immune control against M. tuberculosis in the MGIA.</p

Image_1_Mycobacterium Growth Inhibition Assay of Human Alveolar Macrophages as a Correlate of Immune Protection Following Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette–Guérin Vaccination.JPEG

Background<p>In order to eliminate tuberculosis (TB), an effective vaccine is urgently needed to prevent infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A key obstacle for the development of novel TB vaccines is the lack of surrogate markers for immune protection against M. tuberculosis.</p>Methods<p>We investigated growth rates of M. tuberculosis in the mycobacterial growth inhibition assay (MGIA) as a marker for mycobacterial growth control of human bronchoalveolar lavage (BALC) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) before and after vaccination with Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG) of healthy adult volunteers.</p>Results<p>Vaccination induced a positive response (p < 0.001) to purified protein derivate (PPD) in 58.8% of the individuals in an interferon-γ release assay-ELISpot. Intraindividual evaluation of the MGIA growth rates before and after M. bovis BCG-vaccination revealed no significant difference in time to culture positivity before and after vaccination in BALC (p = 0.604) and PBMC (p = 0.199). The magnitude of the PPD-response induced by M. bovis BCG-vaccination did not correlate with growth control in BALC and PBMC (correlation = 0.468, 95% CI: −0.016 to 0.775).</p>Conclusion<p>In conclusion, M. bovis BCG-vaccination-induced mycobacterial-specific cytokine immune response does not result in functional immune control against M. tuberculosis in the MGIA.</p

Laboratories participating in EQA rounds and modules.

<p>Laboratories participating in EQA rounds and modules.</p

Integration of molecular typing results_pilot Study_Germany

<p>This is the supporting data file for the manuscript entitled "Integration of molecular typing results into tuberculosis surveillance in Germany ─ a pilot study" (Andrés et al., PLoS ONE). The dataset includes anonymized, routinely collected notification data for 918 individuals. The data are published open-access, in accordance with the PLoS ONE data policy (2017).</p