Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-derived DNA in circulating cell-free DNA from a patient with disseminated infection using digital PCR

• Main Authors: Masaki Yamamoto, Ryota Ushio, Hiroki Watanabe, Takayoshi Tachibana, Masatsugu Tanaka, Tomoyuki Yokose, Jun Tsukiji, Hideaki Nakajima, Takeshi Kaneko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2018-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Extrapulmonary infection; Digital PCR; Circulating cell-free DNA
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971217303004

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) can disseminate to extrapulmonary organs, particularly in severely immunosuppressed patients. Confirmation of active MTB infection is often difficult in subjects with a contraindication for invasive procedures. A case of disseminated MTB infection after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is reported herein. Circulating cell-free DNA from the patient showed positive amplification of an MTB complex-specific sequence using a digital PCR technique. The MTB infection was confirmed by positive acid-fast staining and an approved quantitative PCR assay using liver tissue obtained at autopsy. The detection of MTB in circulating cell-free DNA using this technique may represent a less invasive diagnostic tool for pulmonary and extrapulmonary MTB infections.