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QuantiFERON-TB Gold-In-Tube was used to measure IFN-\u03b3 levels in nil, tuberculosis (TB) antigen, and mitogen tubes.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Of 9,378 cases, 431 had active TB. The non-TB group comprised 1,513 IGRA-positive, 7,202 IGRA-negative, and 232 IGRA-indeterminate cases. Nil-tube IFN-\u03b3 levels were significantly higher in the active TB group (median\u2009=\u20090.18 IU\/mL; interquartile range: 0.09\u20130.45 IU\/mL) than in the IGRA-positive non-TB (0.11 IU\/mL; 0.06\u20130.23 IU\/mL) and IGRA-negative non-TB (0.09 IU\/mL; 0.05\u20130.15 IU\/mL) groups (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u2005&lt; 0.0001). From receiver operating characteristic analysis, TB antigen tube IFN-\u03b3 levels had higher diagnostic utility for active TB than TB antigen minus nil values. In a logistic regression analysis, active TB was the main driver of higher nil values. In the active TB group, after reclassifying the results based on a TB antigen tube IFN-\u03b3 level of 0.48 IU\/mL, 14\/36 cases with negative results and 15\/19 cases with indeterminate results became positive, while 1\/376 cases with positive results became negative. Overall, the sensitivity for detecting active TB improved from 87.2 to 93.7%.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>The results of our comprehensive assessment can aid in IGRA interpretation. Since nil values are governed by TB infection rather than reflecting background noise, TB antigen tube IFN-\u03b3 levels should be used without subtracting nil values. Despite indeterminate results, TB antigen tube IFN-\u03b3 levels can be informative.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12931-023-02485-4","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,7]],"date-time":"2023-07-07T09:02:07Z","timestamp":1688720527000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Enhancing the interferon-\u03b3 release assay through omission of nil and mitogen values"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Yun Jung","family":"Jung","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ji Eun","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ji Won","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Keu Sung","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wou Young","family":"Chung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joo Hun","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Seung Soo","family":"Sheen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Seulgi","family":"You","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joo Sung","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kyung Joo","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Youn Jung","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kwang Joo","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"2485_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"26","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijid.2022.03.011","volume":"124","author":"C Jeremiah","year":"2022","unstructured":"Jeremiah C, Petersen E, Nantanda R, Mungai BN, Migliori GB, Amanullah F, et al. 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