Sai Prem ’26

WUJUR (2025)

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease spread person to person via coughing and sneezing tiny, aerosolized droplets containing Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The disease has two states: active TB, where individuals suffer from all symptoms and are able to spread the disease, and latent TB, where the bacteria is present in the body, but does not grow, preventing the individual from feeling symptoms or infecting others. S100A8/A9 proteins function to regulate inflammatory processes and immune responses both extracellularly and intracellularly. The objective of this study was to determine if S100A8/A9 proteins can be used as a biomarker to differentiate between the two disease states of TB. Levels of S100A8/A9 proteins were tested in human serum samples with varying states of the disease (Active TB, Latent TB, Healthy Donor) using a sandwich ELISA. We found that S100A8/A9 proteins were highest in samples containing Active TB. Latent TB samples also contained a slightly elevated, but not significant, level of S100A8/A9 proteins compared to healthy donor samples. These data suggest that immune responses to the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis may lead to increased levels of S100A8/A9 proteins in the body, and that these proteins may be a promising candidate biomarker for rapid and reliable TB detection. Future studies are needed to increase statistical power and investigate other alternatives, like different proteins in the S100 family or human lung samples rather than human serum samples.

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Citation (APA)

Prem, S. (2025). Role of S100A8/A9 proteins in identifying tuberculosis disease states. The Washington University Journal of Undergraduate Research, 1(1), 12–15.

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Prem, Sai. Washington University in St. Louis.
Corresponding Author. Send correspondence to prem.s@wustl.edu.

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