Using Biomarkers to Predict TB Treatment Duration

The Project

PredictTB is a five-year project financed by a variety of international funders and implemented by American, African, Asian and European partners, that aims to shorten the treatment times of tuberculosis (TB) in drug-sensitive patients through individualized therapy.

Coordinated by Prof. Clifton Barry from the US National Institutes of Health and Prof. Gerhard Walzl from Stellenbosch University in South Africa, the consortium will perform an ambitious phase 2B clinical trial in South Africa and China and develop a set of criteria to reduce TB treatment times using data from scans, assays and cultures to evaluate inflammation and lung pathology, to test for the sustained presence of bacteria, and to determine which patients are eligible for treatment that is much shorter than the current standard of care.

PredictTB Objectives

1

Trial implementation

PredictTB aims to enroll and follow-up 620 patients with drug sensitive pulmonary TB in a clinical trial to validate candidate biomarkers as well as identify and evaluate new, improved criteria that can identify patients who can be cured with shorter treatment.

2

Sample collection & storage

The consortium will collect and store biological samples (including serum, whole blood RNA, sputum, saliva, and urine) from patients in Africa and Asia for future biomarker research.

3

Test development

Project partners in the Netherlands will develop a point-of-care lateral flow device that helps doctors decide which patients are eligible for shortened treatment.