Molecular Bacterial Load Assay, a Culture-free Biomarker for Rapid and Accurate Quantification of Sputum Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Bacillary Load During Treatment

Overview

Journal J Clin Microbiol

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2011 Sep 9

PMID 21900522

Citations 60

Authors

Isobella Honeyborne

Timothy D McHugh

Patrick P J Phillips

Selina Bannoo

Anna Bateson

Nora Carroll

Felicity M Perrin

Katharina Ronacher

Laura Wright

Paul D van Helden

Gerhard Walzl

Stephen H Gillespie

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

A molecular assay to quantify Mycobacterium tuberculosis is described. In vitro, 98% (n = 96) of sputum samples with a known number of bacilli (10(7) to 10(2) bacilli) could be enumerated within 0.5 log(10). In comparison to culture, the molecular bacterial load (MBL) assay is unaffected by other microorganisms present in the sample, results are obtained more quickly (within 24 h) and are seldom inhibited (0.7% samples), and the MBL assay critically shows the same biphasic decline as observed longitudinally during treatment. As a biomarker of treatment response, the MBL assay responds rapidly, with a mean decline in bacterial load for 111 subjects of 0.99 log(10) (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.81 to 1.17) after 3 days of chemotherapy. There was a significant association between the rate of bacterial decline during the same 3 days and bacilli ml(-1) sputum at day 0 (linear regression, P = 0.0003) and a 3.62 increased odds ratio of relapse for every 1 log(10) increase in pretreatment bacterial load (95% CI, 1.53 to 8.59).

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