Professor Thomas Scriba
Affiliations
- Full Member, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
- Deputy Director (Immunology), South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI)
Key Expertise
Biomarker Discovery, Omics, Pathogenesis, T-and B-cell Immunology, TB, Vaccine Design, Vaccine Development
Main Research Focus
Tom Scriba interests focus on understanding the immunopathology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and TB disease developing correlates of risk and immunological correlates of protection against TB. He also focuses on TB vaccine development.
Most Significant Paper Authored in 2024
Transcriptomic Signatures of Progression to Tuberculosis Disease Among Close Contacts in Brazil.
Mendelsohn SC, Andrade BB, Mbandi SK, Andrade AMS, Muwanga VM, Figueiredo MC, Erasmus M, Rolla VC, Thami PK, Cordeiro-Santos M, Penn-Nicholson A, Kritski AL, Hatherill M, Sterling TR, Scriba TJ; RePORT–South Africa and RePORT–Brazil Consortia.
There is a need for a prognostic test to identify those at highest risk of incident TB so that therapy can be targeted. We evaluated host blood transcriptomic signatures for progression to TB disease. Prognostic performance for all signatures tested was best within 6 months of diagnosis. Seven of 20 signatures met the minimum World Health Organization target product profile for a prognostic test through 6 months and 3 signatures through 9 months. None met the target product profile threshold through ≥12 months of follow-up.
Blood transcriptomic signatures may be useful for predicting TB risk within 9 months of measurement among TB-exposed contacts to target preventive therapy administration.