Exosomes as Biomarkers for Tuberculosis

Karen Dobos of Colorado State University in the U.S., along with Jeff Schorey of the University of Notre Dame and their partners at the University of San Francisco, seek to identify and validate protein signatures on exosomes, which are small vesicles secreted by M. tuberculosis-infected host cells, for use as biomarkers to diagnose TB. These protein signatures seem to be concentrated by exosomes in such a way that they could be used as highly sensitive indicators of disease in diagnostic tests.