Gene expression profiling identifies candidate biomarkers for active and latent tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious infectious disease, but current methods of detection require improvement in sensitivity, efficiency or specificity. We conducted a microarray experiment, comparing the gene expression profiles in peripheral blood mononuclear cells among individuals with active TB, latent infection, and healthy conditions in a Taiwanese population. These differentially expressed genes may be potential biomarkers that can differentiate between active TB and latent infection. We isolated total RNA from the PBMC from 7 active TB, 7 latent infection, and 7 healthy individuals and profiled their transcriptional profiles to identify signficantly differentially expressed geens that differ among these three groups