Purification and characterization of antigenic determinant of mycobacterium human tuberculosis H₃₇Ra

A new procedure for the selection of antigenic determinant of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H₃₇Ra is described. The proteins were purified from culture filtrates by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis（PAGE）, transferred onto nitrocellulose membrane, immunostained with monoclonal antibodies（McAbs） against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. One McAbs-positive protein antigen was obtained by using the Western Blot analysis. The molecular weight of the determinant was 17500 Dalton by SDS-PAGE analysis. The results suggest that the Western Blot analysis may be a useful tool for the diagnosis of the tuberculosis disease.