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Oxford, UK; 6 February 2006 – Oxford Immunotec Ltd, the Company that monitors T cells for the diagnosis and treatment of disease, today announced the results of a study published recently in the journal AIDS. The study demonstrates the Company’s T-SPOT TM.TB test for tuberculosis can be used to successfully (97%) detect TB infection in HIV patients, despite the fact they are immunosuppressed. T-SPOT.TB is currently the only available test for the effective diagnosis of latent TB in HIV patients. Historically the diagnosis of latent TB infection in HIV positive patients has been challenging due to the high levels (between 26% and 41% of all tests) of false negative results given by the traditional Tuberculin Skin Test (‘TST’). This is because the TST requires the interpretation of a bump on the skin caused by an immune response. The study was performed in 48 subjects, 29 of whom were infected with HIV. Notwithstanding the level of immunosuppression, T-SPOT.TB was able to deliver an evaluable result in 28 of the 29 HIV positive patients (97%) as a result of the test’s high diagnostic sensitivity. Importantly the results achieved with T-SPOT.TB were unaffected by the level of CD4 T cell count and no patient with a CD4 count of less than 200 cells/μl had an indeterminate (inconclusive) result. This confirmed previously published findings that T-SPOT.TB has low technical failure results and high diagnostic sensitivity in HIV infected adults and children with active TB. Commenting on these findings Dr Peter Wrighton-Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Immunotec said “This study demonstrates that the technical performance of T-SPOT.TB is not affected by the degree of HIV-associated immunosuppression. These results represent a significant advance in the early detection of latent TB infection in immunosuppressed patients, those who are at highest risk of conversion to active disease.” - ENDS - NOTES TO EDITORS: About Oxford Immunotec Oxford Immunotec, the T cell measurement company, is headquartered near Oxford, UK. The Company develops and sells clinical diagnostic products based on its patented T-SPOT™ technology, the first regulatory approved method for directly quantifying antigen-specific T cells. T-SPOT is a simple and extremely accurate method of studying a person’s cellular immune response to infection and can be applied to diagnose and monitor any major disease driven by a T cell response. About T-SPOT™.TB T-SPOT.TB is an in vitro T cell measurement assay used for diagnosing TB disease and latent TB infection and the first product from Oxford Immunotec using the T-SPOT technology. The product is extremely robust in that it gives a result every time and offers unrivalled and maintained sensitivity in high risk and immunocompromised patient groups. T-SPOT.TB is approved for sale in Europe and is designed to replace the 115 year old tuberculin skin test. As such it offers a substantially more accurate and effective tool for controlling the spread of TB, addressing a market of £600m. Unlike the traditional Tuberculin Skin Test, the T-SPOT.TB test incorporates a positive control, allowing the user to distinguish between a genuine negative result and one which is indeterminate (ie an inconclusive result) as a result of a technical failure. T-SPOT is a trademark of Oxford Immunotec. Journal References Performance of a T-cell based diagnostic test for tuberculosis infection in HIV-infected individuals is independent of CD4 cell count – Dheda et al - AIDS 2005 Vol 19 No 17 Rapid detection of active and latent tuberculosis infection in HIV-positive individuals by enumeration of M.tuberculosis specific T-cells – Chapman et al - AIDS 2002 ; 16:2285-2293 Diagnosis of tuberculosis in South African children with a T-cell based assay – Liebeschuetz et al - Lancet 2004; 364:2196-2203 For more information please contact:
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