TY - JOUR
T1 - Lung infections in cystic fibrosis: deriving clinical insight from microbial complexity
AU - Rogers, Geraint
AU - Stressmann, Franziska
AU - Walker, Alan
AU - Carroll, Mary
AU - Bruce, Kenneth
PY - 2010/3
Y1 - 2010/3
N2 - Lower respiratory tract bacterial infections, such as those associated with cystic fibrosis lung disease, represent a major healthcare burden. Treatment strategies are currently informed by culture-based routine diagnostics whose limitations, including an inability to isolate all potentially clinically significant bacterial species present in a sample, are well documented. Some advances have resulted from the introduction of culture-independent molecular assays for the detection of specific pathogens. However, the application of bacterial community profiling techniques to the characterization of these infections has revealed much higher levels of microbial diversity than previously recognized. These findings are leading to a fundamental shift in the way such infections are considered. Increasingly, polymicrobial infections are being viewed as complex communities of interacting organisms, with dynamic processes key to their pathogenicity. Such a model requires an analytical strategy that provides insight into the interactions of all members of the infective community. The rapid advance in sequencing technology, along with protocols that limit analysis to viable bacterial cells, are for the first time providing an opportunity to gain such insight.
AB - Lower respiratory tract bacterial infections, such as those associated with cystic fibrosis lung disease, represent a major healthcare burden. Treatment strategies are currently informed by culture-based routine diagnostics whose limitations, including an inability to isolate all potentially clinically significant bacterial species present in a sample, are well documented. Some advances have resulted from the introduction of culture-independent molecular assays for the detection of specific pathogens. However, the application of bacterial community profiling techniques to the characterization of these infections has revealed much higher levels of microbial diversity than previously recognized. These findings are leading to a fundamental shift in the way such infections are considered. Increasingly, polymicrobial infections are being viewed as complex communities of interacting organisms, with dynamic processes key to their pathogenicity. Such a model requires an analytical strategy that provides insight into the interactions of all members of the infective community. The rapid advance in sequencing technology, along with protocols that limit analysis to viable bacterial cells, are for the first time providing an opportunity to gain such insight.
KW - Bacterial community
KW - Cystic fibrosis
KW - Lung infections
KW - Molecular diagnostics
KW - Propidium monoazide
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77949478586&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1586/erm.09.81
DO - 10.1586/erm.09.81
M3 - Review article
VL - 10
SP - 187
EP - 196
JO - Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics
JF - Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics
SN - 1473-7159
IS - 2
ER -