Despite the existing effective treatment methods, tuberculosis (TB) is the second most
deadly infectious disease, its carriers in the latent and active phases accounting for more than 20% of
the world population. An effective method for controlling TB and reducing TB mortality is regular
population screening aimed at diagnosing the latent form of TB and taking preventive and curative
measures. Numerous methods allow diagnosing TB by directly detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis
(M.tb) biomarkers, including M.tb DNA, proteins, and specific metabolites or antibodies produced by
the host immune system in response to M.tb. PCR, ELISA, immunofluorescence and immunochemical
analyses, flow cytometry, and other methods allow the detection of M.tb biomarkers or the host
immune response to M.tb by recording the optical signal from fluorescent or colorimetric dyes that
are components of the diagnostic systems. Current research in biosensors is aimed at increasing
the sensitivity of detection, a promising approach being the use of fluorescent quantum dots as
brighter and more photostable optical tags. Here, we review current methods for the detection of
M.tb biomarkers using quantum dot-based nanosensors and summarize data on the M.tb biomarkers
whose detection can be made considerably more sensitive by using these sensors.