Why is it necessary to include a mitogen control in the Quantiferon-Gold assay?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Topic at hand is the purpose of including a mitogen control in the Quantiferon-Gold assay, a diagnostic tool used to assess cell-mediated immunity by measuring IFN-γ release.
Option 1: 'Mycobacteria stimulate mitogen-responsive T cells' This statement confuses the role of the test antigens with the control. While the assay uses Mycobacterium tuberculosis–derived antigens to stimulate T cells, the mitogen control itself is a non-specific stimulant, not the specific antigen used to detect infection. The option misattributes the source of stimulation to the mitogen control rather than to the test antigens.
Option 2: 'The mitogen control allows comparison of multiple assays performed in the same laboratory' In practice, the mitogen control is not primarily about cross-assay comparability. It serves as a functional readout of T cell capability in the tested sample, rather than a normalization or inter-assay comparison tool. This makes the statement misleading about the control’s main purpose.
Option 3: 'Mitogens stimulate all T cells irrespective of antigen specificity' While it is true that mitogens broadly activate T cells, the core issue in this context is not the breadth of stimulation but whether the T cells are viable and responsive in the assay setup. This option describes a general effect of mitogens but does not address the essential reason for including the control in the QFT assay, which is to verify cellular responsiveness.
Option 4: 'A response to mitogen indicates that the T cells are alive and the assay can be properly interpreted' This statement captures the key rationale: the mitogen control tests whether the patient’s T cells are alive and capable of mounting a response. A positive mitogen control ensures that a negative result for the TB-specific antigens is interpretable as a true negative rather than as a non-responsive sample due to an immune deficiency or technical failure. Conversely, a lack of response to mitogen would cast doubt on the assay result and may indicate an inability to mount an immune response, requiring retesting or alternative interpretation.

Why is it necessary to include a mitogen control in the Quantiferon-Gold assay?单项选择题

类似问题

Tetanus is a bacterial infection that is commonly acquired from puncture wounds. Why do you need to be vaccinated against the flu every year, but you only need a booster against tetanus every 10 years?

Which one of the following statements about infection with HIV and the immune system is correct?

In which security measure will you find anti-virus software?

What are user permissions?

Which security measure will stop someone reading your messages if they find your smart phone?

On a network a firewall

What is the name for emails that are sent to users, pretending to be from their bank and asking for username and password?

To stop users of a network from playing games all day instead of working, which would be the best security measure to use?

更多留学生实用工具

智能学习助手

风格化写作助手

论文查重助手

文献引用助手

课堂转译助手

课堂笔记助手

Quiz搜索助手

学校历年真题

智能刷题助手

智能匹配练习

希望你的学习变得更简单