Scientists in Hong Kong recently published an evaluation of our FDA-cleared NxTAG® Respiratory Pathogen Panel (RPP), which detects 20 clinically relevant viral and bacterial pathogens in as many as 96 samples at a time. The study came out in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology from lead author Jonathan Chen and senior author Kwok-Yung Yuen.
The paper, “Clinical evaluation of the new high-throughput Luminex NxTAG Respiratory Pathogen Panel assay for multiplex respiratory pathogen detection,” describes generating and comparing results from 287 samples run on the NxTAG panel, the BioFire FilmArray Respiratory Panel, and real-time PCR. The evaluation was performed in light of the importance of panel-based testing and also the need for a high throughput platform. According to the authors, “mixed infections are seen often, especially in children.”
The team found that the NxTAG panel had diagnostic sensitivity of 98.9% and specificity of 99%, with “100% sensitivity for adenovirus, human coronavirus (HCoV)-229E, HCoV-NL63, influenza A virus, A/H1pdm09 virus, A/H3 virus, influenza B virus, metapneumovirus, parainfluenza virus type 1 (PIV1-4), RSV, human bocavirus (HBoV), and M. pneumoniae”, as well as 100% specificity for “HCoV-HKU1, influenza A matrix gene, A/H1pdm09, influenza B, PIV1 and M. pneumoniae”. Results showed strong concordance between the NxTAG respiratory panel and the BioFire panel, with “complete concordance” between the panels for nearly 99% of positive results, according to the paper.
The study also included three cultured samples of avian influenza A/H7N9, which has been found with increasing incidence in China recently. All three samples were detected as influenza A by the NxTAG RPP panel.
Interestingly, the NxTAG panel “was the only multiplex assay in this study that could detect HBoV,” the scientists reported. “Since HBoV is one of the causative agents of pediatric acute respiratory tract infections, the NxTAG Respiratory Pathogen Panel has an additional advantage among the pediatric population.”
Looking at the various workflows involved in this evaluation, the team noted that the NxTAG panel offers advantages in high throughput multiplexing with minimal hands-on time. “In conclusion, the NxTAG Respiratory Pathogen Panel has very good diagnostic performance on multiplex respiratory pathogen detection,” they wrote. “The support of high-throughput sample handling made this assay a potentially useful tool in major laboratories processing a high number of clinical respiratory specimens for routine screening of multiple respiratory pathogens.”
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