AUTHOR=Li Zihui , Wang Bing , Du Boping , Sun Qi , Wang Dongpo , Wei Rongrong , Li Chenghai , Zhu Chuanzhi , Jia Hongyan , Xing Aiying , Zhang Zongde , Pan Liping , Hou Dailun 

TITLE=The incremental value of Mycobacterium tuberculosis trace nucleic acid detection in CT-guided percutaneous biopsy needle rinse solutions for the diagnosis of tuberculosis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1335526

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2024.1335526

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis still faces challenges with high proportion of bacteriologic test negative incidences worldwide. We assessed the diagnostic value of digital PCR (dPCR) analysis of ultramicro <italic>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</italic> (<italic>M.tb</italic>) nucleic acid in CT-guided percutaneous biopsy needle rinse solution (BNRS) for TB.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>BNRS specimens were consecutively collected and total DNA was purified. The concentrations of <italic>M.tb</italic>-specific IS<italic>6110</italic> and IS<italic>1081</italic> were quantified using droplet dPCR. The diagnostic performances of BNRS-dPCR and its sensitivity in comparison with conventional tests were analyzed.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>A total of 106 patients were enrolled, 63 of whom were TB (48 definite and 15 clinically suspected TB) and 43 were non-TB. The sensitivity of BNRS IS<italic>6110</italic> OR IS<italic>1081</italic>-dPCR for total, confirmed and clinically suspected TB was 66.7%, 68.8% and 60.0%, respectively, with a specificity of 97.7%. Its sensitivity was higher than that of conventional etiological tests, including smear microscopy, mycobacterial culture and Xpert using sputum and BALF samples. The positive detection rate in TB patients increased from 39.3% for biopsy AFB test alone to 73.2% when combined with BNRS-dPCR, and from 71.4% for biopsy <italic>M.tb</italic> molecular detection alone to 85.7% when combined with BNRS-dPCR.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Our results preliminarily indicated that BNRS IS<italic>6110</italic> OR IS<italic>1081</italic>-dPCR is a feasible etiological test, which has the potential to be used as a supplementary method to augment the diagnostic yield of biopsy and improve TB diagnosis.</p></sec>