Diagnosis of Osteoarticular Tuberculosis: Multi-Targeted Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay Versus Multiplex PCR

Abstract

<b>Aim:</b> Diagnosis of osteoarticular tuberculosis (OATB) is quite challenging and there is an urgent need to design a prompt and precise diagnostic test. <b>Methods:</b> We developed a multi-targeted loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay using <i>mpt64</i> (Rv1980c) and <i>pstS1</i> (Rv0934) targets for the detection of <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> in OATB patients. <b>Results:</b> The sensitivities of 100 and 82.4% were obtained in confirmed (n = 10) and suspected (n = 57) OATB cases, respectively by multi-targeted LAMP with a specificity of 96.9% (n = 33). Moreover, the sensitivities attained by multi-targeted LAMP in total OATB cases were significantly higher (p < 0.05-0.01) than multiplex PCR (<i>mpt64</i> + <i>pstS1</i>) and GeneXpert assay. <b>Conclusion:</b> Our LAMP is simple, reliable and cost-effective method, which may develop into an attractive diagnostic kit for early detection of OATB cases.