Mycobacterium fortuitum glycolipids for the serodiagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Glycolipids belonging to the family of acylated trehaloses were isolated from Mycobacterium fortuitum, a rapidly growing mycobacterial species, and tested in the serologic diagnosis of human pulmonary tuberculosis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Di- and tri-O-acylated trehaloses from M. fortuitum reacted with serum antibodies of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis at higher titers than did with sera from healthy donors. With both glycolipids, the sensitivity of the test was above 0.80 at a chosen specificity of 0.98. Individuals with treated tuberculosis showed lower antibody titers compared with their initial reactivities. These data show that M. fortuitum could be used as a surrogate source of antigens for tuberculosis serodiagnosis.