Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) threatens global TB control and is a major public
health concern in several countries. We therefore developed a multiplex assay
(LINE-TB/MDR) that is able to identify the most frequent mutations related to
rifampicin (RMP) and isoniazid (INH) resistance. The assay is based on multiplex
polymerase chain reaction, membrane hybridisation and colorimetric detection
targeting of rpoB and katG genes, as well as the
inhA promoter, which are all known to carry specific mutations
associated with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). The assay was validated on a
reference panel of 108 M. tuberculosis isolates that were characterised by the
proportion method and by DNA sequencing of the targets. When comparing the
performance of LINE-TB/MDR with DNA sequencing, the sensitivity, specificity and
agreement were 100%, 100% and 100%, respectively, for RMP and 77.6%, 90.6% and 88.9%,
respectively, for INH. Using drug sensibility testing as a reference standard, the
performance of LINE-TB/MDR regarding sensitivity, specificity and agreement was 100%,
100% and 100% (95%), respectively, for RMP and 77%, 100% and 88.7% (82.2-95.1),
respectively, for INH. LINE-TB/MDR was compared with GenoType MTBDRplus for 65
isolates, resulting in an agreement of 93.6% (86.7-97.5) for RIF and 87.4%
(84.3-96.2) for INH. LINE-TB/MDR warrants further clinical validation and may be an
affordable alternative for MDR-TB diagnosis.