Chen Biao, Xie Yingguang, Zhang Ning, Li Wenqiang, Liu Chen, Li Dongmei, Bian Shaodong, Jiang Yufeng, Yang Zhiya, Li Renzhe, Feng Yahui, Zhang Xiaojie, Shi Dongmei
The Laboratory of Medical Mycology, Jining No. 1 People's Hospital, Jining, China.
Postdoctoral Mobile Station of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, China.
Front Microbiol. 2021 Sep 3;12:700008. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.700008. eCollection 2021.
Numerous studies have shown that droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) is a promising tool for the diagnosis of pathogens, especially in samples with low concentrations of pathogenic DNA. An early diagnosis of candidemia is critical for the effective treatment of patients. In this study, we evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of ddPCR assay for DNA detection both by mixing fungal cells with human blood and by analyzing blood samples from infected mice and patients with suspected candidemia. The results showed that ddPCR assay could detect a minimum of 4.5 DNA copies per reaction in blood samples. ddPCR showed higher sensitivity and specificity for DNA detection than traditional culture and quantitative PCR (qPCR) methods and also exhibited significantly better positive and negative predictive values than the culture and qPCR methods that were commonly used in clinical practice. Hence, our study demonstrates that ddPCR assay is a promising method for the timely diagnosis of candidemia and could be useful for monitoring the treatment of candidemia.
众多研究表明，数字液滴PCR（ddPCR）是诊断病原体的一种很有前景的工具，尤其是在致病DNA浓度较低的样本中。念珠菌血症的早期诊断对于患者的有效治疗至关重要。在本研究中，我们通过将真菌细胞与人类血液混合以及分析来自感染小鼠和疑似念珠菌血症患者的血样，评估了ddPCR检测法对DNA检测的敏感性和特异性。结果表明，ddPCR检测法在血样中每个反应能检测到至少4.5个DNA拷贝。与传统培养法和定量PCR（qPCR）方法相比，ddPCR在DNA检测方面表现出更高的敏感性和特异性，并且在阳性和阴性预测值方面也显著优于临床实践中常用的培养法和qPCR方法。因此，我们的研究表明，ddPCR检测法是及时诊断念珠菌血症的一种很有前景的方法，并且可用于监测念珠菌血症的治疗。
