Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40032816›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Multivariable regression models improve accuracy and sensitive grading of antibiotic resistance mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Sanjana G Kulkarni, Sacha Laurent, Paolo Miotto, Timothy M Walker, Leonid Chindelevitch, Carl-Michael Nathanson, Nazir Ismail, Timothy C Rodwell, Maha R Farhat

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–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

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. TheAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2025
    Article
  3. Within-host population dynamics of extensively drug-resistantEvolution, medicine, and public health · 2025
    Article
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.

Sanjana G KulkarniDepartment of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9883-610X
Sacha LaurentFoundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), Geneva, Switzerland.
Paolo MiottoIRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4610-2427
Timothy M WalkerNuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Leonid ChindelevitchMedical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Carl-Michael NathansonGlobal Tuberculosis Programme, World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland.
Nazir IsmailGlobal Tuberculosis Programme, World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7696-3776
Timothy C RodwellFoundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), Geneva, Switzerland.
Maha R FarhatDepartment of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. maha_farhat@hms.harvard.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3871-5760

Funding

VirologyP30AI036214 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI SUSAN JANET LITTLE · 1994 to 2026
$78.4M
Investigating bacterial contributions to TB treatment response: a focus on in-host pathogen dynamicsR01AI155765 · NIAID · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI FARHAT, MAHA · 2020 to 2024
$3.7M
National Science Foundation (NSF) DGE 2140743NIAID NIH HHS P30 AI036214NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI155765U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01AI155765Wellcome TrustWorld Health Organization 001
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Rapid genotype-based drug susceptibility testing for the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) relies on a comprehensive knowledgebase of the genetic determinants of resistance. Here we present a catalogue of resistance-associated mutations using a regression-based approach and benchmark it against the 2nd edition of the World Health Organisation (WHO) mutation catalogue. We train multivariate logistic regression models on over 52,000 MTBC isolates to associate binary resistance phenotypes for 15 antitubercular drugs with variants extracted from candidate resistance genes. Regression detects 450/457 (98%) resistance-associated variants identified using the existing method (a.k.a, SOLO method) and grades 221 (29%) more total variants than SOLO. The regression-based catalogue achieves higher sensitivity on average (+3.2 percentage points, pp) than SOLO with smaller average decreases in specificity (-1.0 pp) and positive predictive value (-1.6 pp). Sensitivity gains are highest for ethambutol, clofazimine, streptomycin, and ethionamide as regression graded considerably more resistance-associated variants than SOLO for these drugs. There is no difference between SOLO and regression with regards to meeting the target product profiles set by the WHO for genetic drug susceptibility testing, except for rifampicin, for which regression specificity is below the threshold of 98% at 97%. The regression pipeline also detects isoniazid resistance compensatory mutations in ahpC and variants linked to bedaquiline and aminoglycoside hypersusceptibility. These results inform the continued development of targeted next generation sequencing, whole genome sequencing, and other commercial molecular assays for diagnosing resistance in the MTBC.

Indexed as

Antitubercular AgentsDrug Resistance, BacterialMutationMycobacterium tuberculosisGenotypeHumansLogistic ModelsMicrobial Sensitivity TestsTuberculosis, Multidrug-ResistantAntitubercular Agents

Identifiers

PMID40032816
PMCPMC11876447

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.