Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Based on a Bio-Inspired Chemiluminescence Sensor

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Clinical Microbiology
• Diagnostic Technology

Background:

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health threat.
• Rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) is essential for effective antibiotic prescription and AMR containment.
• Current phenotypic AST methods lack the speed required for timely clinical decisions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a rapid phenotypic AST method.
• To utilize a chemiluminescence sensor for detecting bacterial enzyme expression.
• To achieve a colony-to-answer time of approximately 1 hour.

Main Methods:

• A novel strategy employing a chemiluminescence sensor was developed.
• The sensor detects enzymes expressed by bacteria, inspired by bubble formation in Escherichia coli and H2O2 mixtures.
• The method was validated for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.

Main Results:

• The developed AST method achieved colony-to-answer times of 55 minutes for E. coli and 70 minutes for S. aureus.
• Diagnostic performance showed high accuracy, with Area Under the Curve (AUC) values of 0.960 for E. coli and 0.950 for S. aureus.
• The chemiluminescence readout utilizes standard hospital laboratory equipment, facilitating clinical adoption.

Conclusions:

• The chemiluminescence-based sensor enables rapid phenotypic AST.
• This method demonstrates excellent diagnostic performance and significantly reduces testing time.
• The technology holds great potential for improving antimicrobial stewardship and combating AMR.