Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 23, 2025
Demonstrating a Multi-drug Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Amplification Microarray
Published on: April 25, 2014
Detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and rifampicin resistance via a new rapid multienzyme isothermal point
Yao Lu1, Ma-Chao Li2, Hai-Can Liu2
1State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, 102206, China; School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325035, Zhejiang Province, China.
Abstract:
Simple, rapid, and accurate detection of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) and drug resistance is critical for improving patient care and decreasing the spread of tuberculosis. To this end, we have developed a new simple and rapid molecular method, which combines multienzyme isothermal rapid amplification and a lateral flow strip, to detect MTBC and simultaneously detect rifampin (RIF) resistance. Our findings showed that it has sufficient sensitivity and specificity for discriminating 118 MTBC strains from 51 non-tuberculosis mycobacteria strains and 11 of the most common respiratory tract bacteria. Further, compared to drug susceptibility testing, the assay has a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 54.1%, 100.0%, and 75.2%, respectively, for detection of RIF resistance. Some of the advantages of this assay are that no special instrumentation is required, a constant low temperature of 39 °C is sufficient for the reaction, the turnaround time is less than 20 min from the start of the reaction to read out and the result can be seen with the naked eye and does not require specialized training. These characteristics of the new assay make it particularly useful for detecting MTBC and RIF resistance in resource-limited settings.
