Top medal awarded to researcher who revolutionised TB testing

Professor Ajit Lalvani wins Weber-Parkes Trust Medal for contributions to the prevention and cure of TB - News Release

By Laura Gallagher
23 October 2008

A researcher whose work has revolutionised the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) has received a prestigious award from the Royal College of Physicians this month.

Professor Ajit Lalvani, from the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College London, was presented with the Weber-Parkes Trust Medal at the Harveian Oration and Dinner at the Royal College, on the evening of 16 October 2008.

The medal is awarded once every three years for major contributions to the prevention and cure of TB. The 2005 medal was awarded to another Imperial researcher, Professor Jon Friedland from the Division of Investigative Science.

Professor Lalvani and his team have invented and validated a new T-cell based blood test to diagnose TB infection, known as ELISpot. This test is now recommended by over 20 national guidelines in regions including the European Union and North America.

According to World Health Organisation estimates, around a third of the world’s population is infected with the TB bacteria and approximately 9 million new cases of active TB are diagnosed around the world each year. The majority of those infected live in the developing world.

TB is difficult to diagnose because many of its symptoms, such as fever, fatigue, and loss of appetite, are also commonly found in many other conditions. Research published in March 2008 demonstrated that combining an ELISpot-Plus test with a tuberculin skin test allows doctors to rule out TB within 48 hours, providing a much quicker result than existing testing methods, for which results take up to several weeks.

 

Furthermore, ELISpot can reveal which patients are at risk of developing the symptoms of TB much more precisely than the TB skin test, according to new research published this month. The researchers believe ELISpot can enable preventative treatment to be targeted in a more focused way than the tuberculin skin test. Unlike the blood test, the skin test commonly gives falsely positive results if a patient has previously been vaccinated against TB.

The ELISpot test works by detecting a protein signal, known as interferon-gamma, released by white blood cells of the immune system in response to TB infection.

Professor Lalvani, a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Research Fellow in the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial, said: "I'm delighted that the impact of our research on global TB control has been recognised by the award of the most prestigious national prize for contributions to prevention and cure of TB. It is fitting that our work, which has provided an urgently needed 100-year upgrade in clinical management of TB and TB control policy, is recognised by the Royal College of Physicians, who created the NICE guidelines which endorsed our first TB test in 2006, and the whole of Europe has since issued similar guidelines.

"I'm grateful to the Wellcome Trust for supporting my research programme over the last decade all the way from the laboratory bench to the patient’s bedside and onwards into public health policy. Finally, Imperial College’s vision in establishing my Chair of Infectious Diseases and TB Task Force has facilitated our pipeline of next-generation innovations to combat the growing global TB pandemic," added Professor Lalvani.

Professor Ajit Lalvani (left) with Professor Stephen Smith at the Royal College of Physicians ceremony

Professor Lalvani joined the College from the University of Oxford in 2007 and he now heads up a specially created Tuberculosis Immunology group at Imperial, carrying out research to develop and deploy new weapons in the battle against TB. This "TB Task Force" forms part of the Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC), a unique partnership between Imperial College London and the NHS as represented by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. The AHSC aims to bring the benefits of research to patients much more quickly than ever before.

Professor Stephen Smith, Principal of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London and Chief Executive of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, attended the awards ceremony. He said: "Professor Lalvani's work is a really great example of the principles of our AHSC working in practice - moving quickly from making a discovery in the lab, to devising a new way of treating patients, to seeing this new method adopted across the world. We are delighted that thanks to him and his team, we now have a better way to diagnose the millions of people who need treatment for TB. Professor Lalvani's new medal is very well deserved and we offer him our warmest congratulations."

The Weber-Parkes Trust Prize Medal was founded in 1895 by a gift from Dr Hermann Weber in memory of Dr Alexander Parkes. This endowed a £3,000 gift triennially to the author of the best essay on tuberculosis. Under new regulations adopted with the approval of the Founder in 1914, the prize is now awarded for the best work already done on the same subject, in this country or abroad.

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