Staff Profile

Dr Narendran G

Designation: Scientist F

Division/Unit: Clinical Research

Email: narendra[dot]ng[at]icmr[dot]gov[dot]in

Educational Qualification

M.B.,B.S., D.T.R.D., DNB (Chest), FRCP (London)

Personal Statement

Dr. G. Narendran is a physician-scientist and clinical trialist specializing in tuberculosis therapeutics and program-relevant clinical research. His work focuses on shortening treatment regimens for drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tuberculosis, evaluation of novel anti-TB drugs, and understanding immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome in TB-HIV co-infection. He has led several multicentric clinical trials and contributed to global TB policy through participation in WHO guideline development groups. His research integrates clinical medicine, translational immunology, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence for TB diagnostics, aiming to improve treatment outcomes and support TB elimination efforts.

Research Focus

• Shortening treatment regimens for drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tuberculosis

• Clinical trials evaluating new anti-tuberculosis drugs and regimens

• Artificial intelligence tools for chest X-ray interpretation and cough-based TB detection

• Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (IRIS) in TB-HIV co-infection

• Extrapulmonary tuberculosis, particularly tuberculous lymphadenitis

Ongoing projects as Principal investigator

• Prevalence of cardiopulmonary perfusion defects and vascular damage among post-COVID-19 participants using Q-SPECT/CT hybrid imaging and correlation with biomarkers for prognostication – a longitudinal study (POCOS).

• Practise-HR Trial: A multicentric parallel-arm randomized clinical trial evaluating treatment outcomes among persons with drug-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis treated with 4- or 6-month high-dose rifampicin-containing regimens with or without levofloxacin.

• PARADIGM-4 TB Trial: Platform Assessing Regimens and Durations in a Global Multisite consortium for TB – a seamless Phase 2B/2C platform trial evaluating multiple regimens and treatment durations in pulmonary tuberculosis (Nodal PI for India).

• Development of AI-based Chest X-ray CAD software for TB detection in collaboration with CDAC.

Significant Publications

1. Narendran G, Menon PA, Venkatesan P, Vijay K, Padmapriyadarsini C, Ramesh Kumar S, Bhavani KP, Sekar L, Gomathi SN, Chandrasekhar C, Kumar S, Sridhar R, Swaminathan S. Acquired rifampicin resistance in thrice-weekly antituberculosis therapy: impact of HIV and antiretroviral therapy. Clin Infect Dis. 2014 Dec 15;59(12):1798-804. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciu674. Epub 2014 Aug 25. PMID: 25156114.

2. Gopalan N, Santhanakrishnan RK, Palaniappan AN, Menon PA, Lakshman S, Chandrasekaran P, Sivaramakrishnan GN, Reddy D, Kannabiran BP, Agiboth HKK, Krishnamoorthy V, Rathinam S, Chockalingam C, Manoharan T, Ayyamperumal M, Jayanthi N, Satagopan K, Narayanan R, Krishnaraja R, Sathiyavelu S, Kesavamurthy B, Suresh C, Selvachitiram M, Arasan G, Susaimuthu S, Rathinam P, Angamuthu P, Jayabal L, Murali L, Ramachandran R, Tripathy SP, Swaminathan S. Daily vs Intermittent Antituberculosis Therapy for Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Patients With HIV: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2018 Apr 1;178(4):485-493. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.0141. PMID: 29507938; PMCID: PMC5885164.

3. Swaminathan S, Narendran G, Venkatesan P, Iliayas S, Santhanakrishnan R, Menon PA, Padmapriyadarsini C, Ramachandran R, Chinnaiyan P, Suhadev M, Sakthivel R, Narayanan P. Efficacy of a 6 vs. a 9-month Intermittent Treatment Regimen in HIV-infected TB Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2010; 181(7):743-51.

4. Goodall RL, Meredith SK, Nunn AJ, Bayissa A, Bhatnagar AK, Bronson G, Chiang CY, Conradie F, Gurumurthy M, Kirenga B, Kiria N, Meressa D, Moodliar R, Narendran G, Ngubane N, Rassool M, Sanders K, Solanki R, Squire SB, Torrea G, Tsogt B, Tudor E, Van Deun A, Rusen ID; STREAM study collaborators. Evaluation of two short standardised regimens for the treatment of rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (STREAM stage 2): an open-label, multicentre, randomised, non-inferiority trial. Lancet. 2022 Nov 26;400(10366):1858-1868. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02078-5. Epub 2022 Nov 8. Erratum in: Lancet. 2022 Nov 19;400(10365):1766. PMID: 36368336.

5. Silveira-Mattos PS, Narendran G, Akrami K, Fukutani KF, Anbalagan S, Nayak K, Subramanyam S, Subramani R, Vinhaes CL, Souza DO, Antonelli LR, Satagopan K, Porter BO, Sher A, Swaminathan S, Sereti I, Andrade BB. Differential expression of CXCR3 and CCR6 on CD4+ T-lymphocytes with distinct memory phenotypes characterizes tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome. Sci Rep. 2019 Feb 6;9(1):1502. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-37846-3. Erratum in: Sci Rep. 2019 May 24;9(1):8036. PMID: 30728405; PMCID: PMC6365576.

6. Narendran G, Andrade BB, Porter BO et al. Paradoxical Tuberculosis Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (TB-IRIS) in HIV Patients with Culture Confirmed Pulmonary Tuberculosis in India and the Potential Role of IL-6 in Prediction. PLoS ONE 2013; 8(5): e63541.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063541 IF-3.534

7. Gopalan N, Senthil S, Prabakar NL, Senguttuvan T, Bhaskar A, Jagannathan M, Sivaraman R, Ramasamy J, Chinnaiyan P, Arumugam V, Getrude B, Sakthivel G, Srinivasalu VA, Rajendran D, Nadukkandiyil A, Ravi V, Hifzour Rahamane SN, Athur Paramasivam N, Manoharan T, Theyagarajan M, Chadha VK, Natrajan M, Dhanaraj B, Murhekar MV, Ramalingam SM, Chandrasekaran P. Predictors of mortality among hospitalized COVID-19 patients and risk score formulation for prioritizing tertiary care-An experience from South India. PLoS One. 2022 Feb 3;17(2):e0263471. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263471. PMID: 35113971; PMCID: PMC8812932.

8. N. Gopalan, A. Newtonraj, L. K. Elizabeth, S. K. Shanmugam, U. D. Ranganathan, M. Muniyandi, B. Ramraj, B. Devaleenal, A. Venkataraman, K. Nagarajan, R. Bethunaickan, M. K. Sathya Narayanan, M. Deka, S. Selvaraju, R. Santhanakrishnan, R. Krishnan, P. Chinnaiyan, K. Palaniyandi, U. Vetrivel, S. M. Jeyakumar, S. Natarajan, A. Mathur. Current challenges and future development of India’s healthcare system’ towards tuberculosis free India – research evidence and programmatic initiatives.BRICS health journal
https://doi.org/10.47093/3034-4700.2024.1.1.35-58

9. Matthew J Saunders, Delia Boccia, Palwasha Y Khan, Lara Goscé, Antonio Gasparrini, Rebecca A Clark, Julia M Pescarini, Salome Charalambous, Lelisa Fekadu, Fernanda Dockhorn da Costa Johansen, Irina Vasilyeva, Gopalan Narendran, Tao Li, Norbert Ndjeka, Richard G White, Rein M G J Houben, Matteo Zignol, Nebiat Gebreselassie, Christopher Finn McQuaid,
Climate change and tuberculosis: an analytical framework, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine 2025 ,
ISSN 2213-2600,

https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(25)00329-7.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213260025003297)

10. Goodall RL, Nunn AJ, Meredith SK, Bayissa A, Bhatnagar AK, Chiang CY, Conradie F, Gopalan N, Gurumurthy M, Kirenga B, Kiria N. Long-term efficacy and safety of two short standardised regimens for the treatment of rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (STREAM stage 2): extended follow-up of an open-label, multicentre, randomised, non-inferiority trial. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. 2024 Dec 1;12(12):975-87.