Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis: biomarkers in exhaled breath condensate for early diagnosis and diversity of pathogens involved.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a life-threatening infection in immunocompromised patients. Early initiation of therapy improves outcome. This implies the necessity of early diagnosis, which is not always feasible due to the fact that invasive procedures (lung biopsy, broncho-alveolar lavage) are often precluded. This project evaluates the use of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) as a matrix for IPA biomarker testing. EBC is collected non-invasively, with potential for repeated sampling (monitoring), even in mechanically ventilated patients. No data exist for EBC in the diagnostic setting of fungal infections, but promising resultsexist in other respiratory conditions. The optimal collection procedure, biomarkers for IPA in EBC and their performance will be determined. Organisms previously recognized as Aspergillus fumigatus now constitute a complex with several new species being recognized as human pathogens. MALDI-TOF spectrometry is a promising tool in microbiology, but only in its infancy in fungal research. This project includes optimizing this technique for identification and similarity analysis of Aspergillus species.A library will be constructed with spectra from reference strains, providing the potential of epidemiological research on >1000 clinical isolates. Isolate identification and subtyping will be linked to clinicalinformation i.e. underlying disease, risk factors for invasive aspergillosis, therapy and susceptibility.

Keywords:Aspergillus fumigatus, Exhaled breath condensate, Epidemiology, Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis

Disciplines:Systems biology, Medical biochemistry and metabolism, Biochemistry and metabolism

Project type:PhD project