Urinary cell-free DNA is a versatile analyte for monitoring infections of the urinary tract
Year: 2018
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Urinary tract infections are one of the most common infections in humans. Here we tested the utility of urinary cell-free DNA (cfDNA) to comprehensively monitor host and pathogen dynamics in bacterial and viral urinary tract infections. We isolated cfDNA from 141 urine samples from a cohort of 82 kidney transplant recipients and performed next-generation sequencing. We found that urinary cfDNA is highly informative about bacterial and viral composition of the microbiome, antimicrobial susceptibility, bacterial growth dynamics, kidney allograft injury, and host response to infection. These different layers of information are accessible from a single assay and individually agree with corresponding clinical tests based on quantitative PCR, conventional bacterial culture, and urinalysis. In addition, cfDNA reveals the frequent occurrence of pathologies that remain undiagnosed with conventional diagnostic protocols. Our work identifies urinary cfDNA as a highly versatile analyte to monitor infections of the urinary tract.
Source: Nature Communications
Authors: Philip Burnham, Darshana Dadhania, Michael Heyang, Fanny Chen, Lars F. Westblade, Manikkam Suthanthiran, John Richard Lee, Iwijn De Vlaminck
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
Awards: Precision monitoring of kidney transplants via single-cell and single-molecule sequencing, G4176821937, Host-Pathogen Interactions From Measurements of Urinary Cell Free DNA in Kidney Transplantation, Gut Microbiome, Acute Rejection, and Tacrolimus Dosing in Kidney Transplantation, Biomolecular Markers for Safe Minimization of Immunosuppression, Graduate Reserach Fellowship Program (GRFP), Mitochondrial Cell-Free DNA as a Marker of Rejection and Damage-Associated Molecular Pattern in Organ Transplantation
OpenAlex ID: W2807732072