Multigeographic clinical assessment of a molecular diagnostic assay for detection of key codons to predict decreased susceptibility or resistance to cephalosporins in Neisseria gonorrhoeae

ABSTRACT Cephalosporin resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae has severely compromised the efficacy of World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended therapies. This study aimed to methodologically evaluate the optimized Six-Codon Plus assay, and additionally conducted a multicenter evaluation to assess its clinical application, especially for predicting antimicrobial resistance (AMR). For methodological evaluation, 397 sequence-known N. gonorrhoeae isolates were evaluated for specificity, 17 nongonococcal isolates were assessed for cross-reactivity, 159 uncultured urogenital swabs and urine samples were evaluated for sensitivity at the clinical level. For multicenter evaluation, 773 isolates with confirmed phenotypic data and 718 clinical urogenital swabs collected from four geographical cities were, respectively, utilized for the evaluation of AMR-prediction strategies and the clinical application of the assay. The assay accurately identified specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms in resistance-associated genes, the detection limits dropped to 10 copies/reaction for individual targets. The specificity reached 100% and no cross-reactivity occurred with double-target confirmation. The assay could be directly applied to clinical samples containing over 20 copies/reaction. Multicenter evaluation formulated two optimal strategies for decreased susceptibility prediction in specific scenarios, and one tactic for prediction of resistance and identification of FC428-like strains. High sensitivity of 86.84% (95% CI, 71.11–95.05) and specificity of 99.59% (95% CI, 98.71–99.89) for resistance prediction were demonstrated for ceftriaxone (CRO). Regarding N. gonorrhoeae identification among multicenter swabs, specificity reached 97.53% (95% CI, 95.49–98.69), and sensitivity reached 93.77% (95% CI, 90.04–96.22). The Six-Codon Plus assay exhibited excellent detection performance and formulated optimal AMR-related prediction strategy with regional adaptability, providing critical information for population screening and clinical treatment.