Detection of Pneumocystis carinii in serum of AIDS patients with Pneumocystis pneumonia by the polymerase chain reaction.

The Journal of protozoology Pub Date : 1991-11-01

N Schluger, K Sepkowitz, D Armstrong, E Bernard, M Rifkin, A Cerami, R Bucala

{"title":"Detection of Pneumocystis carinii in serum of AIDS patients with Pneumocystis pneumonia by the polymerase chain reaction.","authors":"N Schluger, K Sepkowitz, D Armstrong, E Bernard, M Rifkin, A Cerami, R Bucala","doi":"","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Amplification of DNA by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) offers a highly sensitive and specific method for detecting DNA sequences in biological samples. We applied this technology to develop an assay for the P. carinii dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene. This assay was found to be sensitive enough to detect as little as 1 organism-'equivalent' of DHFR DNA. In rats with experimentally-induced P. carinii pneumonia, DHFR DNA amplification demonstrated the presence of pulmonary P. carinii 2 wk prior to the onset of histopathological changes. When rat serum was analyzed by PCR, serum P. carinii DNA was found in 5 of 14 experimental rats. Finally, P. carinii DNA was detected in the serum of 7 of 18 patients (39%) with AIDS and active P. carinii pneumonia. These results suggest that circulating serum P. carinii DNA can be detected frequently in the course of pulmonary infection and may represent a blood-borne phase of infection. The PCR detection of P. carinii DNA provides a useful tool to study the natural history of P. carinii infection and may offer a non-invasive diagnostic procedure in some patients with P. carinii pneumonia.</p>","PeriodicalId":22758,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of protozoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"1991-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The Journal of protozoology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Amplification of DNA by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) offers a highly sensitive and specific method for detecting DNA sequences in biological samples. We applied this technology to develop an assay for the P. carinii dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene. This assay was found to be sensitive enough to detect as little as 1 organism-'equivalent' of DHFR DNA. In rats with experimentally-induced P. carinii pneumonia, DHFR DNA amplification demonstrated the presence of pulmonary P. carinii 2 wk prior to the onset of histopathological changes. When rat serum was analyzed by PCR, serum P. carinii DNA was found in 5 of 14 experimental rats. Finally, P. carinii DNA was detected in the serum of 7 of 18 patients (39%) with AIDS and active P. carinii pneumonia. These results suggest that circulating serum P. carinii DNA can be detected frequently in the course of pulmonary infection and may represent a blood-borne phase of infection. The PCR detection of P. carinii DNA provides a useful tool to study the natural history of P. carinii infection and may offer a non-invasive diagnostic procedure in some patients with P. carinii pneumonia.

本刊更多论文

聚合酶链反应检测艾滋病合并肺囊虫肺炎患者血清卡氏肺囊虫。

用聚合酶链反应(PCR)扩增DNA为检测生物样品中的DNA序列提供了一种高度敏感和特异性的方法。我们应用该技术开发了卡氏假单胞菌二氢叶酸还原酶(DHFR)基因的检测。人们发现，这种检测方法的灵敏度足以检测到1个有机体——相当于DHFR DNA。在实验诱导的卡氏假体肺炎大鼠中，DHFR DNA扩增显示在组织病理改变发生前2周存在肺部卡氏假体。用PCR分析大鼠血清，14只实验大鼠中有5只血清中含有卡氏疟原虫DNA。最后，18例艾滋病合并卡氏假体肺炎患者中有7例(39%)血清检测到卡氏假体DNA。这些结果表明，循环血清卡氏疟原虫DNA可以在肺部感染过程中频繁检测到，并且可能代表血源性感染阶段。卡氏假体DNA的PCR检测为研究卡氏假体感染的自然历史提供了有用的工具，并可能为一些卡氏假体肺炎患者提供一种无创诊断方法。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

The Journal of protozoology

自引率

0.00%

发文量