Exploiting virulence determinants for precision management of melioidosis: A multi-omics roadmap from pathogenesis to point-of-care : A perspective review.

Hcp1, an in vivo-upregulated virulence determinant, has been successfully developed into a point-of-care test with 88.3% sensitivity and 86.1-100% specificity for melioidosis diagnosis.

• Why it matters: Prompt and accurate diagnosis of melioidosis remains difficult due to limited use of bacterial virulence factors as diagnostic targets, hindering effective disease management.
• What they did: A virulence-driven pipeline was used to convert Hcp1 into a validated immunochromatography test, and multi-omics data integration with machine learning was employed to prioritize virulence factor combinations for multiplex diagnostics.
• The result: This framework enhances rapid melioidosis detection and offers a replicable approach for other intracellular pathogen infections, improving diagnostic precision and disease control.