Evaluation of the polymerase chain reaction for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis [Technical Note]

• Published in: The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease Vol. 4; no. 2; pp. 179 - 183
• Main Authors: SUFFYS, P, PALOMINO, J. C, ROMANO, M. I, CARDOSO LEAO, S, ESPITIA, C, CATALDI, A, ALITO, A, VELASCO, M, ROBLEDO, J, FERNANDEZ, J, DA SILVA ROSA, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Paris, France IUATLD 01-02-2000; Union internationale contre la tuberculose et les maladies respiratoires
• Subjects: Bacterial diseases; Biological and medical sciences; Evaluation Studies as Topic; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Medical sciences; Mycobacterium Tuberculosis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - isolation & purification; PCR; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sensitivity and Specificity; Sputum - microbiology; Tropical medicine; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis and atypical mycobacterial infections; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - diagnosis; Human; Exploration; Mycobacterial infection; Medical screening; Infection; Polymerase chain reaction; Tuberculosis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Mycobacteriales; Bacteriosis; Mycobacteriaceae; Bacteria; Actinomycetes; Diagnosis; Technique; Molecular biology
• ISSN: 1027-3719; 1815-7920

The development of nucleic acid-based technologies has improved the sensitivity, specificity and speed of detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in clinical samples. Both commercially available and 'in-house' polymerase chain reaction (PCR) systems are in use, and
a significant number of reports compare such systems with more traditional diagnostic tools for tuberculosis. Few studies, however, have focused on the reproducibility of the results when submitting a sample batch to PCR in different laboratories, especially in developing countries. Consequently,
PCR results obtained from six laboratories in six different Latin American countries for samples reconstituted with defined amounts of M. tuberculosis cells were evaluated. Each laboratory used specific conditions of sample processing, nucleic acid amplification and amplicon detection.
Analysis of results allowed large differences in sensitivity and specificity to be observed. We conclude that in its present setting, in-house PCR cannot be used as a single diagnostic tool for tuberculosis, and that special care needs to be taken upon interpretation of results by inclusion
of a proper number of positive and negative controls.