Friday, July 14, 2017

Next-Gen Precision Diagnostics Now Available at UCSF

UCSF - Latest News Feed

A genome sequencing test developed at UC San Francisco that can rapidly pinpoint the cause of a bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic infection from among a huge range of possibilities is now available to help physicians nationwide diagnose mysterious cases of neurological infection in acutely ill patients.

Scientists at UCSF have already used the test on a trial basis to diagnose a number of patients, including the well-known case of a 14-year-old boy who was near death with swelling in his brain. The boy had undergone months of unsuccessful attempts to identify the cause of his illness with conventional lab tests, expensive imaging technologies, and invasive procedures, including a brain biopsy. By sequencing his cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), UCSF scientists found that he had a bacterial infection called leptospirosis, and he rapidly recovered after receiving targeted treatment with penicillin. The test has now been validated in UCSF’s Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-licensed clinical microbiology laboratory and is approved for clinical use. 

Over the last year, UCSF physicians and researchers have examined the utility of the test using CSF collected from more than 200 patients enrolled in a nationwide study of eight hospitals, including three University of California medical centers. All of these patients suffered from acute neurological illnesses, including meningitis (inflammation of the coverings around the brain and spinal cord), encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), and myelitis (inflammation of the spinal cord).

Doctors often have trouble figuring out why these tissues become inflamed, as these conditions can have many causes, including infection, cancer, and autoimmune disease. This can lead to inappropriate treatment. For example, steroids and immunosuppressive agents that are commonly used to treat autoimmune diseases make it harder for the body to fight infection. 

The new sequencing test can help overcome this uncertainly by pinpointing the genomic signatures of a wide range of pathogens—including fungi, bacteria, viruses, and ...

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