The median age was 39 years (18, 82) with women constituting 39% (278/713) of participants. 16% (113/713) were people living with HIV, while 41% (295/713) had an unknown HIV status (Table 1). Individuals with a history of previous TB constituted 14% (97/713). Of the samples, 44% (313/713) were culture-positive, with 24% (160/713) smear-positive.
Error, invalid, and indeterminate results from fleXT and LA-XDR
DNA extraction: Four people did not have sputum extracted using FluoroLyse and 16 people did not have sputa extracted using fleXT. fleXT had an error proportion of 4.5% (30/668) for sputum compared to 2.2% (7/322; p = 0.045) for isolates (Supplementary Tables 4).
Invalid MTBC detection: LA-XDR had a low invalid proportion in sputum testing of 1.3% (8/619) for FluoroLyse and 0.8% (5/607; p = 0.391) for fleXT. On repeat testing using left-over DNA, 100% (8/8) of invalid sputum FluoroLyse extracts became valid while 80% (4/5) by fleXT remained invalid. No invalid results occurred for testing on isolates.
DST Indeterminate: LA-XDR with fleXT DST using sputum, an indeterminate proportion of 38% (25/251) for AMK, 8% (21/251) for FQ and 1% (2/251) for EMB were observed. LZD DST on sputum had a indeterminate proportion of 51% (141/227) for FluoroLyse and 37% (93/251; p = 0.001) for fleXT.
LA-XDR performance compared to the composite reference standard.
MTBC detection: Overall sensitivity was 87% (95% CI: 82, 91) and 85% (80, 89; p = 0.528) by FluoroLyse and fleXT, respectively (Table 2). In smear-positive sputa extracted using FluoroLyse, sensitivity was 96% (91, 99) and specificity 86% (49, 97), compared to fleXT with a sensitivity of 94% (88, 97; p = 0.494) and a specificity of 100% (65, 100; p = 0.305). In smear-negative sputa, sensitivity was 80% (72, 86), with 99% (97, 99) specificity for FluoroLyse, while for the fleXT, sensitivity was 79% (71, 85; p = 0.839) and specificity 99% (97, 100; p > 0.999) (Fig. 2). Retesting false-negative FluoroLyse-extracted DNA eluates detected MTBC in 50% of smear-positive (2/4) and smear-negative (18/36) samples whereas retesting using fleXT-extracted eluates resulted in no MTBC detection in smear-positive (0/6) but 20% of smear-negatives (8/41). Using isolates, sensitivity was 98% (96, 99) by FluoroLyse compared to 99% (97, 100) for fleXT with specificity estimates of 93–100% for both methods. Three out of five isolates missed by LA-XDR were non-tuberculous mycobacteria by sequencing of rrs (Mycobacterium intracellulare, Mycobacterium avium, Mycobacterium elephantis), perhaps indicating mixed infection.
Table 2
Diagnostic accuracy of LiquidArray MTB-XDR for detecting MTBC from smear-positive and smear-negative sputum samples by DNA extraction method. The sensitivity and specificity are higher in smear-positive than that of smear-negative regardless of DNA extraction methods employed. Data are % (95% CI) and n/N.
MTBC detection
|
Sputum
|
FL
|
fleXT
|
Overall
Sensitivity
Specificity
|
87
(82, 91)
214/246
|
85
(80, 89)
199/233
|
|
*p=0.528
|
98
(97, 99)
359/365
|
99
(98, 100)
337/339
|
|
*p=0.278
|
Smear-positive
Sensitivity
Specificity
|
96
(91, 99)
105/109
|
94
(88, 97)
109/115
|
|
*p=0.494
|
86
(49, 97)
6/7
|
100
(65, 100)
7/7
|
|
*p=0.305
|
Smear-negative
Sensitivity
Specificity
|
80
(72, 86)
109/137
|
79
(71, 85)
103/131
|
$p<0.001
|
*p=0.839
$p=0.001
|
99
(97, 99)
353/358
|
99
(98, 100)
330/332
|
$p=0.002
|
*p>0.999
$p=0.790
|
Abbreviation: FL, FluoroLyse; fleXT, GenoXtract fleXT; MTBC, Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.
$Within-column comparisons between smear statuses
*Within-row comparisons for FluoroLyse vs fleXT.
Fluoroquinolones: LA-XDR showed a sensitivity of 93% (95% CI: 85, 97) and 94% (86, 98) using FluoroLyse and the fleXT, respectively, with a specificity of 100% (98, 100) for FluoroLyse and 99% (96, 100) for fleXT (Table 3) on sputa. Using isolates, sensitivity was 92% (85, 94) and 92% (85, 96) for FluoroLyse and fleXT, respectively with a specificity of 100% (97, 99) for both. LA-XDR on FluoroLyse-extracted DNA showed comparable performance to MTBDRsl with a sensitivity of 92% (80, 97) vs 90% (76, 96; p = 0.758) on sputum and 93% (84, 97) vs 88% (77, 94; p = 0.359) on isolates (Supplementary Table 5). Based on successful results, in a hypothetical population of 100 smear-negative FQ resistance cases using fleXT (Supplementary Table 6), 24% (24/100) could be missed due to 1 fleXT error and, for LA-XDR, 2 invalid results, 15 MTBC-negative, 6 FQ-indeterminate, and 1 false-susceptible due to the sensitivity decrement.
Table 3
Diagnostic accuracy of LiquidArray MTB-XDR for the detection of drug resistance to FQ, AMK, EMB, and LZD compared to composite reference standard by sample type and DNA extraction method. The sensitivity and specificity are higher in isolates than that of sputum regardless of DNA extraction methods employed. The FluoroLyse DNA extraction method is comparable to the GenoXtract fleXT except for the amikacin and ethambutol. Data are % (95% CI) and n/N.
Drug susceptibility
|
Sputum
|
Isolates
|
FL
|
fleXT
|
FL
|
fleXT
|
FQ
Sensitivity
Specificity
|
93
(85, 97)
70/75
|
94
(86, 98)
66/70
|
92
(85, 96)
85/92
|
92
(85, 96)
83/90
|
|
*p=0.807
|
ɫp=0.808
|
*p>0.999
ɫp=0.626
|
100
(98, 100)
166/166
|
99
(96, 100)
149/150
|
100
(97, 100)
198/199
|
100
(97, 100)
199/200
|
|
*p=0.197
|
ɫp>0.999
|
*p>0.999
ɫp=0.156
|
AMK
Sensitivity
Specificity
|
64
(45, 80)
16/25
|
55
(34, 74)
11/20
|
69
(54, 81)
27/39
|
72
(56, 84)
28/39
|
|
*p=540
|
ɫp=0.678
|
*p=0.771
ɫp=0.191
|
99
(96, 100)
138/139
|
98
(95, 99)
156/159
|
100
(98, 100)
255/256
|
100
(99, 100)
255/255
|
|
*p=0.483
|
ɫp=0.109
|
*p>0.999
ɫp=0.023
|
EMB
Sensitivity
Specificity
|
88
(79, 93)
78/89
|
85
(75, 91)
71/84
|
90
(83, 95)
90/100
|
91
(76, 92)
90/99
|
|
*p=0.563
|
ɫp=0.660
|
*p=0.810
ɫp=0.209
|
98
(95, 99)
166/169
|
97
(94, 99)
150/154
|
100
(97, 100)
195/196
|
100
(97, 100)
194/195
|
|
*p=0.564
|
ɫp=0.047
|
*p>0.999
ɫp=0.015
|
LZD#
Specificity
|
100
(97, 100)
132/132
|
100
(98, 100)
149/149
|
100
(99, 100)
289/289
|
100
(99, 100)
289
|
|
*p=$
|
*p=$
|
*p=$
|
Abbreviation: AMK, amikacin; EMB, ethambutol; FQ, fluoroquinolones; FL, FluoroLyse; fleXT, GenoXtract fleXT; LZD, Linezolid; N/A, not applicable.
*Within-row comparisons for FluoroLyse vs fleXT.
ɫ Within-row comparisons for Sputum vs Isolate.
#No LZD resistance samples were evaluated hence sensitivity is incalculable.
$incalculable.
Amikacin: LA-XDR showed a sensitivity of 64% (95% CI: 45, 80) and 55% (34, 74) using DNA extracted by the FluoroLyse and the fleXT platform respectively with a specificity of 99% (96, 100) for FluoroLyse versus 98% (95, 99) for fleXT in sputum samples. In isolates, sensitivity improved to 69% (95% CI 54, 81) for FluoroLyse compared to 72% (56, 84; p = 0.771) for fleXT with a specificity of 100% (98, 100) for both platforms. The assay demonstrated comparable performance to MTBDRsl with a sensitivity of 71% (45, 88) on sputum and 74% (54, 88) on isolates. In a hypothetical population of 100 smear-negative AMK resistance cases using fleXT, 53% (53/100) could be missed due to 1 fleXT error and, for LA-XDR, 2 invalid results, 15 MTBC-negative, 31 AMK-indeterminate, and 4 false-susceptible.
Ethambutol: LA-XDR had a sensitivity of 88% (95% CI: 79, 93) with FluoroLyse and 85% (75, 91) for fleXT with a specificity of 98% (95, 99) for FluoroLyse and 98% (95, 99) for fleXT. In isolates, sensitivity was 90% (83, 95) and 91% (76, 92) for the FluoroLyse and fleXT respectively with a specificity of 100% (97, 100) for both DNA extraction methods. In a hypothetical population of 100 smear-negative EMB resistance cases using fleXT, 23% (23/100) could be missed due to 1 fleXT error and, for LA-XDR, 2 invalid results, 15 MTBC-negative, 1 EMB-indeterminate, and 4 false-susceptible.
Linezolid: The assay exhibited a specificity of 100% (95% CI: 97, 100) for both methods. However, sensitivity could not be precisely assessed due to few resistant cases. LA-XDR detected 86% (6/7) of phenotypic-resistant isolates, with one being susceptible. All isolates with resistance detected by LA-XDR had the C-154-R rplC resistance-associated variant22.