Ivagnes Vittorio, De Carolis Elena, Magrì Carlotta, Torelli Riccardo, Posteraro Brunella, Sanguinetti Maurizio
Dipartimento di Scienze Biotecnologiche di Base, Cliniche Intensivologiche e Perioperatorie, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168 Rome, Italy.
Dipartimento di Scienze di Laboratorio ed Ematologiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168 Rome, Italy.
J Fungi (Basel). 2025 Mar 19;11(3):234. doi: 10.3390/jof11030234.
Dermatomycosis, including the most prevalent onychomycosis, significantly impacts patients' quality of life due to its chronic nature and high recurrence rate. Conventional diagnostic methods are often limited by low sensitivity and specificity and prolonged turnaround times. This study evaluates the EUROArray Dermatomycosis Platform, a microarray-based molecular assay, for its performance in identifying fungi causing dermatomycosis. Forty reference fungal strains, covering on-panel and off-panel species, and 120 clinical samples from patients with suspected dermatomycosis were analyzed. The platform's accuracy was compared to microscopy and/or culture as the diagnostic standard. The assay demonstrated 100% analytical sensitivity and 97.1% analytical specificity, correctly identifying 33 of 34 fungal species while misclassifying one. In clinical samples, the assay showed good sensitivity (78.6%) and high specificity (91.7%), detecting additional positive cases missed by culture, which highlights the assay's ability to identify non-viable fungi and low fungal loads. The assay achieved a positive predictive value of 75.9% and a negative predictive value of 92.8%, reinforcing its diagnostic reliability. Despite some discordances, the assay provides rapid results and broad-spectrum fungal detection, positioning it as a valuable complement to conventional diagnostics. Future improvements, including expanding the identification panel and optimizing sample handling, could further enhance its clinical utility.
皮肤真菌病，包括最常见的甲癣，因其慢性病程和高复发率，对患者的生活质量有显著影响。传统诊断方法往往受到灵敏度低、特异性差和周转时间长的限制。本研究评估了EUROArray皮肤真菌病检测平台，一种基于微阵列的分子检测方法，在鉴定引起皮肤真菌病的真菌方面的性能。分析了40株参考真菌菌株，包括检测板内和检测板外的菌种，以及120份疑似皮肤真菌病患者的临床样本。将该平台的准确性与作为诊断标准的显微镜检查和/或培养进行比较。该检测方法显示出100%的分析灵敏度和97.1%的分析特异性，正确鉴定了34种真菌中的33种，仅误分类了1种。在临床样本中，该检测方法显示出良好的灵敏度（78.6%）和高特异性（91.7%），检测出了培养遗漏的额外阳性病例，这突出了该检测方法识别非存活真菌和低真菌载量的能力。该检测方法的阳性预测值为75.9%，阴性预测值为92.8%，增强了其诊断可靠性。尽管存在一些不一致之处，但该检测方法能提供快速结果并进行广谱真菌检测，使其成为传统诊断方法的有价值补充。未来的改进，包括扩大鉴定面板和优化样本处理，可能会进一步提高其临床实用性。
