Benefit of ELISpot in early diagnosis of tuberculous meningoencephalitis: Case report and literature review

Abstract

Tuberculous meningitis and meningoencephalitis are rare and dangerous complications of infections with mycobacteria-complex. Usually these are complications of systemic florid infection with Mycobacterium (M.) tuberculosis. They are most often seen in immune compromised patients. The confirmation of diagnosis can be elaborate and delayed due to long-term culture requirements for M. tuberculosis. We present a female patient, without history of immunosuppression, who was diagnosed with tuberculous meningoencephalitis using ELISpot to detect immune reactivity against mycobacterial antigens with lymphocytes from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). ELISpot with CSF derived lymphocytes seems to be an appropriate method to diagnose tuberculous meningitis and meningoencephalitis and to make therapeutic decisions easier and earlier in atypical cases of infection with M. tuberculosis.

Reader‑free ELISPOT assay for immuno‑monitoring in peptide‑based cancer vaccine immunotherapy

“…The ELISPOT assay is performed for various immuno-monitoring purposes including clinical trials for infectious diseases (13,14) and cancer immunotherapy (15)(16)(17). For reader-free ELISPOT assay, the preparation of ELISPOT membrane for spot counting can be a time-consuming process.…”

“…This assay is also capable of multi-sample measurement since the procedures are simple and the assay is commonly performed in 96-well plates. Therefore, the ELISPOT assay is widely used as a monitoring tool for cellular immune response in clinical trials for infectious diseases (13,14) and cancer immunotherapy (15)(16)(17).…”