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A High-throughput Compatible Assay to Evaluate Drug Efficacy against Macrophage Passaged Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Published on: March 24, 2017
Frequency and implications of pyrazinamide resistance in managing previously treated tuberculosis patients
G E Louw1, R M Warren, P R Donald
1Department of Biomedical Sciences, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, South Africa.
Objective:
To determine the extent of pyrazinamide (PZA) resistance in isolates from previously treated patients from the Western Cape, South Africa.
Design:
Drug-resistant isolates, isolates resistant to one or more drugs other than PZA (PZA resistance is not routinely determined) (n = 127), and drug-susceptible (n = 47) clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from previously treated patients from the Western Cape were phenotypically (BACTEC MGIT 960) and genotypically (pncA gene sequencing) analysed for PZA resistance.
Results:
MGIT analysis found that 68 of the 127 drug-resistant isolates were PZA-resistant. Nearly all (63/68) PZA-resistant isolates had diverse nucleotide changes scattered throughout the pncA gene, and five PZA-resistant isolates had no pncA mutations. Of the 47 phenotypically susceptible isolates, 46 were susceptible to PZA, while one isolate was PZA-monoresistant (OR = 53.0, 95% CI = 7.1-396.5). A pncA polymorphism (Thr114Met) that did not confer PZA resistance was also identified. PZA resistance was strongly associated with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
Conclusion:
An alarmingly high proportion of South African drug-resistant M. tuberculosis isolates are PZA-resistant, indicating that PZA should not be relied upon in managing patients with MDR-TB in the Western Cape. A method for the rapid detection of PZA resistance would be beneficial in managing patients with suspected drug resistance.
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