# Transrenal DNA for point-of-care diagnosis of TB

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2022 · $182,912

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
M. tuberculosis (Mtb) infects one-third of the world’s population, causes TB disease in 10 million people per year,
and is responsible for 1.6 million deaths annually. While effective treatments for TB have been available for over
50 years, a major barrier to its control has remained the inability to reliably diagnose disease in low-resource
TB-endemic settings. Most clinical tests require an adequate sample of sputum (mucus from the lungs) which
may be difficult to obtain in patients without a cough, in children, and in HIV-infected individuals. Urine offers an
attractive method for point-of-care TB diagnostics since it is abundant, simple to collect, and collection does not
involve exposure to infectious aerosols. Transrenal DNA (trDNA) present in the urine offers a specific target that
can be amplified for high sensitivity. The development of a PCR-based test of TB from urine, and its development
as a point-of-care test, could have enormous impact on TB diagnostics.
Aim 1. To improve detection of Mtb-specific trDNA using ultrashort PCR and multiplexing. Hypothesis:
Amplification of shorter fragments and/or targeting multiple unique fragments will enable detection of low-
concentrations samples, increasing sensitivity while maintaining specificity.
Aim 2. To determine sensitivity and specificity of improved Mtb-specific trDNA detection in urine
samples from adults and children in a TB-endemic setting. Hypothesis: Mtb trDNA is present in detectable
quantities in urine from both adults and children with pulmonary TB regardless of HIV status, and our
hybridization sequence-capture method can increase clinical sensitivity compared to previous TB trDNA studies.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10443886
- **Project number:** 5R21AI163613-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Barry Ryan Lutz
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $182,912
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-02 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10443886

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10443886, Transrenal DNA for point-of-care diagnosis of TB (5R21AI163613-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10443886. Licensed CC0.

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