Affiliations: Dipartimento di Scienze Promozione Della Salute,
Sezione di Malattie Infettive, Università Degli Studi Di Palermo,
Italy | Ospedale Pediatrico G. Di Cristina, ARNAS, Palermo,
Italy | Istituto di Biomedicina e Immunologia Molecolare,
Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Palermo, Italy | Università di Palermo, Dipartimento di
Biopatologia e Metodologie Biomediche, Palermo, Italy
Note: [] Correspondence: Paola Di Carlo, MD, Via del Vespro 133, I-90127
Palermo, Italy. Tel.: +39 91 6554057; Fax: +39 91 6554050; E-mail:
pdicarlo@unipa.it
Abstract: The most significant immunological studies of tuberculosis (TB)
infection have involved adult patients. Few studies about the immune repertoire
have been conducted in children. The purpose of this paper is to focus on
cellular immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis by reviewing our studies
conducted on children with different forms of TB infection between 1998 and
2006. Although the gold standard of TB diagnosis remains isolation of TB
bacillus that also allows estimation of pattern of resistance of M.
tuberculosis, the study of immune response can be useful for the early
diagnosis and therapeutic follow-up of pediatric TB.
