Next-generation sequencing in neuropathologic diagnosis of infections of the nervous system.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To determine the feasibility of next-generation sequencing (NGS) microbiome approaches in the diagnosis of infectious disorders in brain or spinal cord biopsies in patients with suspected CNS infections.

Methods

In a prospective pilot study, we applied NGS in combination with a new computational analysis pipeline to detect the presence of pathogenic microbes in brain or spinal cord biopsies from 10 patients with neurologic problems indicating possible infection but for whom conventional clinical and microbiology studies yielded negative or inconclusive results.

Results

Direct DNA and RNA sequencing of brain tissue biopsies generated 8.3 million to 29.1 million sequence reads per sample, which successfully identified with high confidence the infectious agent

SUBMITTER: Salzberg SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4907805 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature