Key result
Deep sequencing identifies viral pathogens in ~71% of frozen brain samples from encephalitis patients.
Why the study?
Does deep sequencing accurately identify viral infections in frozen brain tissue from subjects with encephalitis?
Case-Control (n=21)
Single-blind
Yes
Does deep sequencing accurately identify viral infections in frozen brain tissue from subjects with encephalitis?
Deep sequencing can accurately identify viral infections in frozen brain tissue, offering a rapid and accurate diagnostic tool for infectious diseases.
Deep sequencing may aid viral detection in encephalitis brain tissue; leaves open clinical diagnostic validation.
Deep sequencing allows for a rapid, accurate characterization of microbial DNA and RNA sequences in many types of samples. Deep sequencing (also called next generation sequencing or NGS) is being developed to assist with the diagnosis of a wide variety of infectious diseases. In this study, seven frozen brain samples from deceased subjects with recent encephalitis were investigated. RNA from each sample was extracted, randomly reverse transcribed and sequenced. The sequence analysis was performed in a blinded fashion and confirmed with pathogen-specific PCR. This analysis successfully identified measles virus sequences in two brain samples and herpes simplex virus type-1 sequences in three brain samples. No pathogen was identified in the other two brain specimens. These results were concordant with pathogen-specific PCR and partially concordant with prior neuropathological examinations, demonstrating that deep sequencing can accurately identify viral infections in frozen brain tissue.
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Chan et al. (2014) conducted a case-control in Viral Encephalitis (n=21). Deep sequencing (RNA-seq) vs. Pathogen-specific PCR and prior neuropathological examinations was evaluated on Identification of viral sequences in brain samples. Deep sequencing successfully identified viral pathogens (measles virus or herpes simplex virus type-1) in 5 of 7 frozen brain samples from subjects with encephalitis.
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