Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38981466›Full record

ArticleThe American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene2024

Diagnostic Utility of Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction in Patients of Clinically Suspected Pure Neuritic Leprosy by Identifying Mycobacterium leprae in Skin Biopsy Samples and Nasal Swabs.

Vinay Kumar Pathak, Apoorva Sharma, Ayush Sharma, Itu Singh, Manjot Kaur, Tarun Narang, Debajyoti Chatterjee, Pragati Pandey, Manish Modi, Sunil Dogra and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Vinay Kumar PathakStanley Browne Laboratory, The Leprosy Mission Community Hospital, Nand Nagari, Delhi, India.
Apoorva SharmaDepartment of Dermatology, Venereology & Leprology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India.
Ayush SharmaDepartment of Immunopathology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India.
Itu SinghStanley Browne Laboratory, The Leprosy Mission Community Hospital, Nand Nagari, Delhi, India.
Manjot KaurDepartment of Dermatology, Venereology & Leprology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India.
Tarun NarangDepartment of Dermatology, Venereology & Leprology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India.
Debajyoti ChatterjeeDepartment of Histopathology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India.
Pragati PandeyDepartment of Dermatology, Venereology & Leprology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India.
Manish ModiDepartment of Neurology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India.
Sunil DograDepartment of Dermatology, Venereology & Leprology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India.
Seema ChhabraDepartment of Immunopathology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Pure neuritic leprosy (PNL) often remains underdiagnosed due to the lack of simple, reliable diagnostic tools to detect Mycobacterium leprae. This study aimed to investigate the utility of multiplex polymerase chain reaction (MPCR) in easily accessible and less invasive biopsy sites, including skin biopsy samples and nasal swabs (NSs), to detect M. leprae. A total of 30 (N = 30) clinically suspected and untreated patients with PNL were recruited. Nasal swabs and skin biopsy samples from the innervation territory of an "enlarged nerve" were collected. DNA was extracted and subjected to MPCR (targeting leprae-specific repetitive element [RLEP], 16S rRNA, and SodA genes) and RLEP-PCR (individual gene PCR). The PCR products were analyzed by 3% agarose gel electrophoresis. In 30 patients with clinically suspected PNL, 60% (N = 18) of skin biopsy samples and 53% (N = 16) of NSs were found positive for M. leprae DNA by MPCR, whereas only 23.3% (N = 7) of skin biopsy samples and 10% (N = 3) of NSs were found positive by RLEP-PCR. MPCR demonstrated a greater positivity rate than did RLEP-PCR for detection of M. leprae. Serologic positivity for anti-natural disaccharide-octyl conjugated with bovine serum albumin (ND-O-BSA) antibodies was 80% (16/20), including 35% (7/20) of PNL patients for which the skin MPCR was negative. Both serologic positivity and skin MPCR positivity were observed in 65% of patients (N = 20). Multiplex polymerase chain reaction is a useful tool for detection for M. leprae in skin biopsy samples and NSs in clinically suspected cases of PNL, with the added advantages of being less invasive and technically easier than nerve biopsy.

Indexed as

Multiplex Polymerase Chain ReactionMycobacterium lepraeSkinAdultAgedBiopsyDNA, BacterialFemaleHumansLeprosyMaleMiddle AgedNoseSensitivity and SpecificityYoung AdultDNA, Bacterial

Identifiers

PMID38981466
PMCPMC11376178

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.