Evaluating the Efficacy of CRISPR-Based Point-of-Care Diagnostics for Rapid Detection of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis

Abstract

Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is one of the most significant health issues in the world as it is diagnosed late, there are failures in treatment, and access to local and quick diagnostic methods is insufficient. Traditional techniques such as culture-based and molecular assays are either time consuming or demand special laboratory facilities. The recent advances in CRISPR-based diagnostics have allowed detecting genetic markers related to drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis quickly, sensitively, and at the point of care. This paper assesses the effectiveness of CRISPR-Cas12a and Cas13a-based detection platforms in detecting MDRTB in terms of sensitivity, specificity, turnaround time, and their applicability in decentralized clinical environments. On a cross-sectional design, samples of suspected MDR-TB patients were tested on sputum through CRISPR-based assays and compared to those tested on GeneXpert and standard culture methods. Findings indicated that CRISPR tests were highly accurate in finding mutations linked to resistance in rpoB, katG and inhA promoter areas. The turnaround time was lessened to less than an hour and the assays worked efficiently without the use of advanced apparatus. The results indicate that CRISPR-based point-of-care diagnostics has a major potential to help in enhancing early patient detection, transmission reduction, and prompt therapeutic decisions in high-burden areas. Nonetheless, full-scale validation, field implementation research and cost-effectiveness analysis are necessary in order to be integrated into national TB control initiatives. The present study underscores CRISPR diagnostics as a novel accolade to the international MDR-TB diagnostic approaches.