Spoligotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates using Luminex®-based method in Lebanon.
INTRODUCTION
Data about the genotypes of circulating Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates (MTB) in Lebanon are scarce. This study was undertaken to reveal the spoligotypes of MTB isolates recovered from patients in Lebanon.


METHODOLOGY
MTB isolates from 49 patients living in Lebanon were recovered and identified. The samples were heat killed and subjected to DNA extraction. Spoligotyping was performed using microbeads from TB-SPOL Kit and the fluorescence intensity was measured using Luminex 200®. Generated patterns were assigned to families using the SITVIT2 international database of the Pasteur Institute of Guadeloupe and compared.


RESULTS
The spoligotyping of the 49 MTB isolates revealed that 31 isolates belonged to Lineage 4 (Euro-American, 63.3%), 12 to Lineage 3 (East- African Indian, 24.5%), 3 to Lineage 2 (East Asian, 6%) and 2 were unknown. Over half of the genotypes (16 of 30) harbored SIT127 supposed to belong to the L4.5 sublineage. One isolate belonging to the rare Manu-Ancestor SIT523 was recovered for the first time in Lebanon, being associated with highly virulent extensively drug-resistant (XDR) MTB phenotype.


CONCLUSION
The application of the Spoligotyping Multiplex Luminex® method is an efficient, discriminatory and rapid method to use for first-lane genotyping of MTB isolates. Though humble numbers were tested, this study is one of the first to describe the genomic diversity and epidemiology of MTB isolates of Lebanon, and suggests an increasing prevalence of SIT127 in the country.
['Masoud|Khaldoun|K|', 'Araj|George F|GF|', 'Reslan|Lina|L|', 'Fadlallah|Sukayna|S|', 'Wehbe|Michel|M|', 'Itani|Lina|L|', 'Avedissian|Aline|A|', 'Dbaibo|Ghassan|G|', 'Saade|Antoine|A|', 'Refrégier|Guislaine|G|', 'Sola|Christophe|C|', 'Matar|Ghassan M|GM|']
D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques D005838:Genotype D006801:Humans D007861:Lebanon D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction D014376:Tuberculosis
Spoligotyping Mycobacterium tuberculosis Luminex Lebanon