A clinical trial of Actiphage, a promising new diagnostic for tuberculosis infection, has shown for the first time that live...
Lab TB Testing
Phage-based detection assays benefits from the selectivity of a phage for a specific bacterial target.
Many clinical laboratories develop their own tests and this enables them to extend their portfolio of diagnostics, these are called Lab Developed Tests, if you are considering this for tuberculosis then do get in contact with us.
Phage-based test
Unmet need
It is estimated that 33% of the world's population are infected with TB but do not show clinical symptoms of disease, known as Latent TB (LTBI), this is more than 13 million people in the US.
Urgently needed are diagnostics that can identify which of these people will go on to develop tuberculosis disease, this is known as Incipient TBI.
Current tests have limitations
Actiphage v's IGRA
There are a number of tests for TB most rely on detection of a host response. Mycobacteria are good at evading the host's immune system so often an antigen response is only detectable at later stages of the disease.
Actiphage offers an alternative to these approaches. It is a phage-based diagnostic that can identify human tuberculosis and other mycobacterial infections by detecting live pathogens circulating in the blood.
A phage is a virus-like particle that is specific to a particular stain of bacteria, such as Mycobacteria Tuberculosis (Mtb) that causes tuberculosis (TB).
The phage is used to find live mycobacteria; it penetrates the bacteria, replicating rapidly within it. As the volume inside increases, eventually the tough cell walls will rupture, releasing the bacterial DNA (lysing the bacteria).
The DNA is then available for identification with qPCR.
We are developing Research Use Only components for Actiphage.
Actiphage in your lab
If you would like to find out more about how your lab could be meeting the requirement of the huge market for improved tuberculosis diagnostics then get in contact.
Researchers at Leicester Respiratory NIHR Biomedical Centre (2022) used Actiphage to screen high risk patients.
It was the first study to successfully isolate Mtb in the blood and to use this to distinguish between latent TBI and incipient TBI.
Showed bacteraemia (bacteria in the blood) can be used to provide early-stage diagnosis.
Demonstrated that Actiphage had potential for rapid blood test for screening vulnerable populations.
The research was presented at the 32nd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
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