In Silico Evaluation of Expressed TB Fusion CFP10-ESAT-6 Reveals Promising Diagnostic and Therapeutic Potential

Tuberculosis (TB) an opportunistic disease still remains a major cause of death globally after COVID-19 pandemic and HIV. Enhanced microbial resistance to therapeutic drugs has paved way to introducing new vaccines for prophylactic control of the disease. Timely diagnosis of TB is also highly needed for effective treatment. Therefore, a fast reliable diagnostic method with high sensitivity is need of the day. In our study, CFP10 and ESAT-6 antigens were cloned, expressed, and purified individually and as a chimeric construct in Escherichia coli BL21. Epitopic analysis revealed that the CFP10-ESAT-6 (CEP) chimeric construct may be more sensitive than the individual sensitivities of CFP10 and ESAT-6. Moreover, molecular analysis of secondary structure and 3-D modelling of each construct also validated that CEP may prove a better immunodiagnostic tool in addition to previously reported EC skin test.