CASE REPORT
Utility of Whole-Genome Next-Generation Sequencing of Plasma in Identifying Opportunistic Infections in HIV/AIDS
Yang Zhou1, Vagish Hemmige2, Sudeb C. Dalai3, 6, David K. Hong3, Kenneth Muldrew4, Mayar Al Mohajer5, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2019Volume: 13
First Page: 7
Last Page: 11
Publisher ID: TOAIDJ-13-7
DOI: 10.2174/1874613601913010007
Article History:
Received Date: 10/8/2018Revision Received Date: 18/12/2018
Acceptance Date: 09/01/2019
Electronic publication date: 13/2/2019
Collection year: 2019
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
AIDS-associated Opportunistic Infections (OIs) have significant morbidity and mortality and can be diagnostically challenging, requiring invasive procedures as well as a combination of culture and targeted molecular approaches.
Objective:
We aimed to demonstrate the clinical utility of Next-generation Sequencing (NGS) in pathogen identification; NGS is a maturing technology enabling the detection of miniscule amounts of cell-free microbial DNA from the bloodstream.
Methods:
We utilized a novel Next-generation Sequencing (NGS) test on plasma samples to diagnose a series of HIV-associated OIs that were diagnostically confirmed through conventional microbial testing.
Results:
In all cases, NGS test results were available sooner than conventional testing. This is the first case series demonstrating the utility of whole-genome NGS testing to identify OIs from plasma in HIV/AIDS patients.
Conclusion:
NGS approaches present a clinically-actionable, comprehensive means of diagnosing OIs and other systemic infections while avoiding the labor, expense, and delays of multiple tests and invasive procedures.