School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK.
Parasitol Res. 2011 Dec;109(6):1661-9. doi: 10.1007/s00436-011-2439-8. Epub 2011 May 10.
Acanthamoeba are opportunistic protozoan pathogens that can produce sight-threatening keratitis and fatal granulomatous encephalitis. The successful prognosis requires early diagnosis and differentiation of pathogenic Acanthamoeba spp. followed by aggressive treatment regimen. In this study, we tested the use of high-resolution (1)H NMR spectroscopy in the clinical diagnosis of Acanthamoeba. Using NMR spectroscopy combined with Pattern Recognition Analysis (PRA), we analysed variations in the biochemical 'fingerprint' of invasive and non-invasive Acanthamoeba, its closely related genus, Balamuthia mandrillaris, neuropathogenic Escherichia coli K1 strain E44, a laboratory strain of E. coli K-12, HB101, mammalian cells including human brain microvascular endothelial cells and monkey kidney cells. The findings revealed significant variations in the metabolites of amoebae, mammalian cells and bacteria. Interestingly, (1)H NMR spectra provided distinct biochemical profiles of clinical and non-clinical Acanthamoeba isolates highlighting the potential of (1)H NMR spectroscopy combined with PRA for the development of a novel diagnostic test that could rapidly identify pathogenic Acanthamoeba isolates with high sensitivity and specificity.
棘阿米巴是一种机会性的原生动物病原体，可引起致盲性角膜炎和致命性肉芽肿性脑炎。成功的预后需要早期诊断和区分致病性棘阿米巴属。在本研究中，我们测试了高分辨率（1）H NMR 光谱在棘阿米巴临床诊断中的应用。我们使用 NMR 光谱结合模式识别分析（PRA），分析了侵袭性和非侵袭性棘阿米巴、其密切相关的属巴尔默氏菌、神经致病性大肠杆菌 K1 菌株 E44、大肠杆菌 K-12 的实验室菌株 HB101、哺乳动物细胞（包括人脑血管内皮细胞和猴肾细胞）的生化“指纹”的变化。研究结果表明，阿米巴虫、哺乳动物细胞和细菌的代谢物存在显著差异。有趣的是，（1）H NMR 光谱为临床和非临床棘阿米巴分离株提供了独特的生化特征，这突出了（1）H NMR 光谱结合 PRA 用于开发新型诊断测试的潜力，该测试可以快速、高灵敏度和特异性地识别致病性棘阿米巴分离株。
