Clinical utility of targeted next-generation sequencing for rapid detection, species differentiation, drug resistance profiling, and prognostic evaluation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a multi-center retrospective cohort study
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology·
- DOI
- 10.3389/fcimb.2026.1818202
- PMID
- —
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W7203683674
- Study type
- Cohort study
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
Overcoming current diagnostic delays and incomplete resistance profiling could improve laboratory efficiency and support more informed therapeutic planning for a persistent global infectious disease burden.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
How does targeted next-generation sequencing compare to traditional laboratory techniques in identifying mycobacterial pathogens and detecting associated antimicrobial resistance markers?
Study design
The investigation employed a retrospective, multicenter cohort framework to assess a molecular diagnostic assay against an independent clinical reference standard.
Population and setting
One hundred thirty individuals with suspected mycobacterial infections were enrolled across two tertiary medical centers in China during a twelve-month period spanning late 2023 to mid-2024.
Main findings
The molecular platform achieved higher concordance with final clinical diagnoses than conventional assays, reaching roughly eighty-one percent agreement in respiratory specimens. It reliably separated tuberculosis from nontuberculous mycobacteria with strong sensitivity and specificity while simultaneously mapping genetic variants associated with eleven antimicrobial classes within a single day. Medication protocols were modified for over forty percent of the cohort, and the majority of those cases displayed subsequent clinical stabilization, although the authors emphasize these observations are purely descriptive.
Public-health relevance
Overcoming current diagnostic delays and incomplete resistance profiling could improve laboratory efficiency and support more informed therapeutic planning for a persistent global infectious disease burden.
Important limitations
The authors explicitly state that observed links between altered treatment plans and subsequent patient improvement are descriptive and cannot confirm causal relationships. Additionally, the use of a composite clinical reference standard determined independently of the evaluated assay may restrict direct methodological validation.
GIDS interpretation
This record documents analytical performance metrics and observational clinical correlations for a specific molecular testing platform. The content characterizes laboratory capabilities and descriptive patient trends without indicating ongoing epidemiological monitoring or real-world signal generation.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 7 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.