Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39688756›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology2025

Analysis of high-molecular-weight proteins using MALDI-TOF MS and machine learning for the differentiation of clinically relevant Clostridioides difficile ribotypes.

Ana Candela, David Rodriguez-Temporal, Mario Blázquez-Sánchez, Manuel J Arroyo, Mercedes Marín, Luis Alcalá, Germán Bou, Belén Rodríguez-Sánchez, Marina Oviaño

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In one paragraph

Article in European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology, 2025. 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

9 authors.

Ana CandelaClinical Microbiology Department, Complexo Hospitalario Universitario A Coruña, Institute of Biomedical Research A Coruña (INIBIC), A Coruña, Spain. acandelagon@gmail.com.
David Rodriguez-TemporalClinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain. david.rodriguez@iisgm.com.
Mario Blázquez-SánchezClinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain.
Manuel J ArroyoClover Bioanalytical Software, Av. del Conocimiento, 41, Granada, 18016, Spain.
Mercedes MarínClinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain.
Luis AlcaláClinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain.
Germán BouClinical Microbiology Department, Complexo Hospitalario Universitario A Coruña, Institute of Biomedical Research A Coruña (INIBIC), A Coruña, Spain.
Belén Rodríguez-Sánchez *Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain.
Marina Oviaño *Clinical Microbiology Department, Complexo Hospitalario Universitario A Coruña, Institute of Biomedical Research A Coruña (INIBIC), A Coruña, Spain.

Funding

Instituto de Salud Carlos III Miguel Servet CPII19/00002Instituto de Salud Carlos III Rio Hortega CM21/00165Instituto de Salud Carlos III Sara Borrell CD22/00014
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeClostridioides difficile is the main cause of antibiotic related diarrhea and some ribotypes (RT), such as RT027, RT181 or RT078, are considered high risk clones. A fast and reliable approach for C. difficile ribotyping is needed for a correct clinical approach. This study analyses high-molecular-weight proteins for C. difficile ribotyping with MALDI-TOF MS.

methodsSixty-nine isolates representative of the most common ribotypes in Europe were analyzed in the 17,000-65,000 m/z region and classified into 4 categories (RT027, RT181, RT078 and 'Other RTs'). Five supervised Machine Learning algorithms were tested for this purpose: K-Nearest Neighbors, Support Vector Machine, Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis, Random Forest (RF) and Light-Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM).

resultsAll algorithms yielded cross-validation results > 70%, being RF and Light-GBM the best performing, with 88% of agreement. Area under the ROC curve of these two algorithms was > 0.9. RT078 was correctly classified with 100% accuracy and isolates from the RT181 category could not be differentiated from RT027.

conclusionsThis study shows the possibility of rapid discrimination of relevant C. difficile ribotypes by using MALDI-TOF MS. This methodology reduces the time, costs and laboriousness of current reference methods.

Indexed as

Bacterial ProteinsClostridioides difficileClostridium InfectionsMachine LearningRibotypingSpectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-IonizationAlgorithmsEuropeHumansMolecular WeightBacterial ProteinsClostridioides difficileMachine learningMALDI-TOF MSRibotyping

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Registered trials

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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.