Utility of Real-Time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction in DetectingMycobacterium tuberculosis.
This study aimed to assess the value of real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for the detection ofMycobacterium tuberculosis(MTB). Samples from 192 patients with suspected MTB were examined by RT-qPCR and an improved Löwenstein-Jensen (L-J) culture method. To evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of RT-qPCR in detecting MTB, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for RT-qPCR was generated, and the area under the curve (AUC) as well as a cutoff value was calculated. Using the L-J culture method as the gold standard, accuracy of the RT-qPCR method for detecting MTB was 92.7%, with sensitivity and specificity of 62.5% and 97.02%, respectively. In comparison with the improved L-J culture method, the AUC of RT-qPCR ROC curve was 0.957, which was statistically significant (p< 0.001). The Youden Index reached the maximum value (0.88) for gene copy number of 794.5 IU/mL, which was used as the cutoff value. RT-qPCR detection of MTB yielded results consistent with those of the improved L-J culture method, with high accuracy. RT-qPCR may be used as an auxiliary method for etiological diagnosis of tuberculosis.
Clinical Laboratory, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China.
Zhongquan
0000-0001-7368-3066
Z
Lv
Clinical Laboratory, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China.
Mingxin
M
Zhang
Tuberculosis Control Center, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
Hui
H
Zhang
Clinical Laboratory, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China.
Xinxin
0000-0002-4494-5036
X
Lu
D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012372:ROC Curve; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D004269:DNA, Bacterial