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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Clinical Microbiology
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1496829
This article is part of the Research Topic Development of point-of-care sensors for diagnosis of bacterial-associated infections View all 4 articles
Rapid Detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae CARDS Toxin in Clinical Respiratory Specimens by A Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay
Provisionally accepted
Yun Fang 
Panpan Xie Xin Zhang Yue Zhang Ning Yang Yinghui Shi Ruixia Xin Yunbiao Bai 
Kai Wen Niu 
Xin Yuan *- Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Fifth Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
In light of the absence of rapid and precise diagnostic laboratory tests for the detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP), a prominent etiological agent implicated in a range of respiratory infections, we developed and evaluated a rapid and straightforward loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay targeting the MP community-acquired respiratory distress syndrome toxin (CARDS TX) gene. The LAMP assay was performed at 65 °C for a duration of 60 minutes, yielding a minimum detection concentration of MP CARDS TX at 0.4986 pg/μL. The assay exhibited no cross-reactivity with 13 other prevalent pathogens associated with respiratory infections or with other common bacterial toxin genes. To further substantiate the validity of the LAMP assay, 200 pharyngeal swabs or bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples were collected from inpatients diagnosed with communityacquired pneumonia (CAP) between June 2021 and July 2022. The results were compared with those obtained by the quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) method for verification purposes. Of the 200 clinical specimens, 11 exhibited positive results for MP by LAMP, and 10 displayed positive results for MP by qPCR (P=1.000). In summary, a sensitive, specific, straightforward, and expeditious LAMP method for CARDS TX identification was developed to facilitate rapid detection of MP in point-ofcare settings. This assay enables early and accurate diagnosis, even in resource-limited environments, which is important for proper antibiotic treatment and prognosis of MP infection.
Keywords: community-acquired respiratory distress syndrome toxin, Detection methods, Loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, MP pneumonia
Received: 15 Sep 2024; Accepted: 14 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fang, Xie, Zhang, Zhang, Yang, Shi, Xin, Bai, Niu and Yuan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xin Yuan, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Fifth Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
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