Open AccessNucleic Acid Sequence-Based Amplification of Aspergillus RNA in Blood Samples
Author(s) -
Juergen Loeffler,
Holger Hebart,
Philipp Cox,
Nicole Flues,
Ulrike Schumacher,
Hermann Einsele
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of clinical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.349
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1070-633X
pISSN - 0095-1137
DOI - 10.1128/jcm.39.4.1626-1629.2001
Subject(s) - nasba , aspergillus , nucleic acid , biology , rna , aspergillus fumigatus , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , biochemistry
Nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA), an isothermal amplification technique, was established and evaluated for the detection of Aspergillus RNA and compared with a previously published, well-defined real-time PCR assay amplifying a region of the Aspergillus 18S rRNA gene. NASBA showed a lower detection limit of 1 CFU and detected RNA from five different clinically relevant Aspergillus species, including Aspergillus fumigatus. All 77 blood samples tested by PCR and NASBA showed identical results in both assays. Results with the NASBA technique were obtained within 6 h. Thus, the NASBA technique provided a valuable tool for sensitive, specific, fast, and reliable detection of Aspergillus RNA with potential for routine diagnosis, including the possibility to test the viability of cells.