GenoType MTBDRplus Assay for Rapid Detection of Multidrug Resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: A Meta-Analysis

There is an urgent demand for rapid and accurate drug-susceptibility testing for the detection of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. The GenoType MTBDRplus assay is a promising molecular kit designed for rapid identification of resistance to first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs, isoniazid and rifampicin. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of GenoType MTBDRplus in detecting drug resistance to isoniazid and rifampicin in comparison with the conventional drug susceptibility tests.

We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases to identify studies according to predetermined criteria. A total of 40 studies were included in the meta-analysis. QUADAS-2 was used to assess the quality of included studies with RevMan 5.2. STATA 13.0 software was used to analyze the tests for sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio, and area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curves. Heterogeneity in accuracy measures was tested with Spearman correlation coefficient and Chi-square.

Patient selection bias was observed in most studies. The pooled sensitivity (95% confidence intervals were 0.91 (0.88-0.94) for isoniazid, 0.96 (0.95-0.97) for rifampicin, and 0.91(0.86-0.94) for multidrug-resistance. The pooled specificity (95% CI) was 0.99 (0.98-0.99) for isoniazid, 0.98 (0.97-0.99) for rifampicin and 0.99 (0.99-1.00) for multidrug-resistance, respectively. The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curves ranged from 0.99 to 1.00.

This meta-analysis determined that GenoType MTBDRplus had good accuracy for rapid detection of drug resistance to isoniazid and/or rifampicin of M. tuberculosis. MTBDRplus method might be a good alternative to conventional drug susceptibility tests in clinical practice.