PMC

Effect of TB treatment on biomarker levels. The plot shows the ratio of post-treatment (week 8) to baseline (week 0) biomarker levels for each biomarker in each study subject. The assays are ordered based on the magnitude of the treatment effect. Asterisks indicate the effect is statistically significant (p < 0.05/62 assays = 0.0008).

Box and whisker plots showing the magnitude of the treatment effect for six biomarkers (the ratio of week 8 and week 0 biomarker levels) after grouping subjects according to three outcome variables: week 8 culture conversion status, week 12 culture conversion status, and presence/absence of cough at 8 weeks. The asterisks indicate that the difference between two groups is significant (p < 0.05/62 assays = 0.0008).

Box and whisker plots showing the baseline levels of six biomarkers as a function of five indicators of baseline disease state: presence of cavities in chest x-ray, presence of cavities > 4 cm, lung involvement > 50%, smear grade (≤ 1 vs ≥ 2) and time-to-detection (≤ 5 days vs > 5 days) for MGIT cultures. The asterisks indicate that the difference between two groups is significant (p < 0.05/62 assays = 0.0008).

Association of biomarker treatment effect with sputum culture conversion status at week 8. The plot shows the ratio of post-treatment (week 8) to baseline (week 0) biomarker levels for the 25 biomarkers with the strongest treatment effects (the top 25 assays in Supplemental Table 2). Points are separated and colored based on sputum culture conversion status at week 8 (blue = converted, red = non-converted). For each biomarker and group, a horizontal line segment indicates the median biomarker value. The biomarkers with a significant association with culture status (p < 0.05/62 biomarkers = 0.0008) are marked with an asterisk.