Molecular Analysis of Anti-Tuberculosis Drug Resistance of IMycobacterium tuberculosis/I Isolated in the Republic of Korea

• Published in: Antibiotics (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 8
• Main Authors: Jeon, Se-Mi, Park, Sanghee, Lim, Na-Ra, Lee, Noori, Jung, Jihee, Sung, Nackmoon, Kim, Seonghan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 01.08.2023
• Subjects: China; Drug resistance in microorganisms; Drug therapy; Epidemics; Rifabutin; Rifampin; South Korea; Tuberculosis; South Korea; China
• ISSN: 2079-6382; 2079-6382
• DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics12081324

Rapid and accurate detection of tuberculosis (TB) drug resistance is critical for the successful treatment and control of TB. Here, we investigated resistance to anti-TB drugs and genetic variations in 215 drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in Korea. Genetic variations were observed in rpoB Ser531Leu, katG Ser315Thr, and gyrA Asp94Gly; however, the minimum inhibitory concentrations varied, which can be attributed to other resistance mechanisms. Examination of genetic relatedness among drug-resistant isolates revealed that the cluster size of resistant bacteria was less than six strains, suggesting no evidence of a large-scale epidemic caused by a specific strain. However, rpoC mutants of the rifampicin-resistant isolates were composed of five types of clusters, suggesting that these compensatory mutations advance propagation. In the present study, more than 90% of the resistance mechanisms to major anti-TB drugs were identified, and the effect of each mutation on drug resistance was estimated. With the clinical application of recent next-generation sequencing-based susceptibility testing, the present study is expected to improve the clinical utilization of genotype-based drug susceptibility testing for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with drug-resistant TB.