血小板製剤の細菌検査としての細菌16S rDNAリアルタイムPCR法の評価

Abstract

In Japan, transfusion-transmitted bacterial infection remains an ongoing problem, and further preventive measures are necessary to ensure blood safety. Here, we developed a bacterial 16S rDNA real-time PCR assay (PCR assay) and compared its detectability with that of a fully automated blood culture system, BacT/ALERT VIRTUO (VIR-TUO) by testing bacteria-spiked platelet concentrate (PC). All PC samples stored for 40 hours after inoculation with 4 bacterial species with a total of 8 strains tested positive by both methods, except for three samples with low bacterial concentrations under the detection limit (10 CFU/ml ) by the agar plate culture method. However, PCR assay may have lower detectability than VIRTUO when testing slow-growing bacteria in PC. This PCR assay has a shorter running time than VIRTUO of about 3 hours, and incorporation of internal control allows the monitoring of false-negative results by PCR inhibitors.Further development of bacterial DNA-free PCR reagents together with an automatic assay system will likely make this PCR assay a practical bacterial screening method.