Serum sCD14, PGLYRP2 and FGA as potential biomarkers for multidrug‐resistant tuberculosis based on data‐independent acquisition and targeted proteomics

Multidrug‐resistant tuberculosis (MDR‐TB), defined as tuberculosis (TB) resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, is a major concern of TB control worldwide. However, the diagnosis of MDR‐TB remains a huge challenge to its prevention and control. To identify new diagnostic methods for MDR‐TB, a mass spectrometry strategy of data‐independent acquisition and parallel reaction monitoring was used to detect and validate differential serum proteins. The bioinformatic analysis showed that the functions of differential serum proteins between the MDR‐TB group and the drug‐sensitive tuberculosis group were significantly correlated to the complement coagulation cascade, surface adhesion and extracellular matrix receptor interaction, suggesting a disorder of coagulation in TB. Here, we identified three potential candidate biomarkers such as sCD14, PGLYRP2 and FGA, and established a diagnostic model using these three candidate biomarkers with a sensitivity of 81.2%, a specificity of 90% and the area under the curve value of 0.934 in receiver operation characteristics curve to diagnose MDR‐TB. Our study has paved the way for a novel method to diagnose MDR‐TB and may contribute to elucidate the mechanisms underlying MDR‐TB.