scholarly journals Benchmark of thirteen bioinformatic pipelines for metagenomic virus diagnostics using datasets from clinical samples

Author(s):  
Jutte J.C. de Vries ◽  
Julianne R. Brown ◽  
Nicole Fischer ◽  
Igor A. Sidorov ◽  
Sofia Morfopoulou ◽  
...  

Metagenomic sequencing is increasingly being used in clinical settings for difficult to diagnose cases. The performance of viral metagenomic protocols relies to a large extent on the bioinformatic analysis. In this study, the European Society for Clinical Virology (ESCV) Network on NGS (ENNGS) initiated a benchmark of metagenomic pipelines currently used in clinical virological laboratories. Methods Metagenomic datasets from 13 clinical samples from patients with encephalitis or viral respiratory infections characterized by PCR were selected. The datasets were analysed with 13 different pipelines currently used in virological diagnostic laboratories of participating ENNGS members. The pipelines and classification tools were: Centrifuge, DAMIAN, DIAMOND, DNASTAR, FEVIR, Genome Detective, Jovian, MetaMIC, MetaMix, One Codex, RIEMS, VirMet, and Taxonomer. Performance, characteristics, clinical use, and user-friendliness of these pipelines were analysed. Results Overall, viral pathogens with high loads were detected by all the evaluated metagenomic pipelines. In contrast, lower abundance pathogens and mixed infections were only detected by 3/13 pipelines, namely DNASTAR, FEVIR, and MetaMix. Overall sensitivity ranged from 80% (10/13) to 100% (13/13 datasets). Overall positive predictive value ranged from 71-100%. The majority of the pipelines classified sequences based on nucleotide similarity (8/13), only a minority used amino acid similarity, and 6 of the 13 pipelines assembled sequences de novo. No clear differences in performance were detected that correlated with these classification approaches. Read counts of target viruses varied between the pipelines over a range of 2-3 log, indicating differences in limit of detection. Conclusion A wide variety of viral metagenomic pipelines is currently used in the participating clinical diagnostic laboratories. Detection of low abundant viral pathogens and mixed infections remains a challenge, implicating the need for standardization and validation of metagenomic analysis for clinical diagnostic use. Future studies should address the selective effects due to the choice of different reference viral databases.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuiama Lewandowski ◽  
Yifei Xu ◽  
Steven T. Pullan ◽  
Sheila F. Lumley ◽  
Dona Foster ◽  
...  

AbstractInfluenza is a major global public health threat as a result of its highly pathogenic variants, large zoonotic reservoir, and pandemic potential. Metagenomic viral sequencing offers the potential of a diagnostic test for influenza which also provides insights on transmission, evolution and drug resistance, and simultaneously detects other viruses. We therefore set out to apply Oxford Nanopore Technology to metagenomic sequencing of respiratory samples. We generated influenza reads down to a limit of detection of 102-103 genome copies/ml in pooled samples, observing a strong relationship between the viral titre and the proportion of influenza reads (p = 4.7×10-5). Applying our methods to clinical throat swabs, we generated influenza reads for 27/27 samples with high-to-mid viral titres (Cycle threshold (Ct) values <30) and 6/13 samples with low viral titres (Ct values 30-40). No false positive reads were generated from 10 influenza-negative samples. Thus Nanopore sequencing operated with 83% sensitivity (95% CI 67-93%) and 100% specificity (95% CI 69-100%) compared to the current diagnostic standard. Coverage of full length virus was dependent on sample composition, being negatively influenced by increased host and bacterial reads. However, at high influenza titres, we were able to reconstruct >99% complete sequence for all eight gene segments. We also detected Human Coronavirus and generated a near complete Human Metapneumovirus genome from clinical samples. While further optimisation is required to improve sensitivity, this approach shows promise for the Nanopore platform to be used in the diagnosis and genetic analysis of influenza and other respiratory viruses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (46) ◽  
Author(s):  
Everlyn Kamau ◽  
Martha M. Luka ◽  
Zaydah R. de Laurent ◽  
Irene Adema ◽  
Charles N. Agoti ◽  
...  

Coding-complete genomes of two human coronavirus OC43 strains and one NL63 strain were obtained by metagenomic sequencing of clinical samples collected in 2017 and 2018 in Kilifi, Kenya. Maximum likelihood phylogenies showed that the OC43 strains were genetically dissimilar and that the NL63 strain was closely related to NL63 genotype B viruses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexia Bordigoni ◽  
Anne Motte ◽  
Hervé Tissot-Dupont ◽  
Philippe Colson ◽  
Christelle Desnues

AbstractHuman papillomaviruses (HPV) play a key role in promoting human anogenital cancers. Current high-risk HPV screening or diagnosis tests involve cytological or molecular techniques mostly based on qualitative HPV DNA detection. Here, we describe the development of a rapid quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) detection test of HPV16 and HPV18 oncogenes (E6 and E7) normalized on human gene encoding GAPDH. Optimized qPCR parameters were defined, and analytical specificities were validated. The limit of detection was 101 for all genes tested. Assay performances were evaluated on clinical samples (n = 96). Concordance between the Xpert HPV assay and the triplex assay developed here was 93.44% for HPV16 and 73.58% for HPV18. HPV co-infections were detected in 15 samples. The systems developed in the present study can be used in complement to traditional HPV tests for specifically validating the presence of HPV16 and/or HPV18. It can also be used for the follow-up of patients with confirmed infection and at risk of developing lesions, through the quantification of E6 and E7 oncogene expression (mRNA) normalized on the GAPDH expression levels.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S278-S279
Author(s):  
Dorottya Nagy-Szakal ◽  
Mara Couto-Rodriguez ◽  
Joseph Barrows ◽  
Heather L Wells ◽  
Marilyne Debieu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background COVID-19 had spread quickly, causing an international public health emergency with an alarming global shortage of COVID-19 diagnostic tests. We developed and clinically validated a next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based target enrichment assay with the COVID-DX Software tailored for the detection, characterization, and surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome. Methods The SARS-CoV-2 NGS assay consists of components including library preparation, target enrichment, sequencing, and a COVID-DX Software analysis tool. The NGS library preparation starts with extracted RNA from nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs followed by cDNA synthesis and conversion to Illumina TruSeq-compatible libraries using the Twist Library Preparation Kit via Enzymatic Fragmentation and Unique Dual Indices (UDI). The library is then enriched for SARS-CoV-2 sequences using a panel of dsDNA biotin-labeled probes, specifically designed to target the SARS-CoV-2 genome, then sequenced on an Illumina NextSeq 550 platform. The COVID-DX Software analyzes sequence results and provides a clinically oriented report, including the presence/absence of SARS-CoV-2 for diagnostic use. An additional research use only report describes the assay performance, estimated viral titer, coverage across the viral genome, genetic variants, and phylogenetic analysis. Results The SARS-CoV-2 NGS Assay was validated on 30 positive and 30 negative clinical samples. To measure the sensitivity and specificity of the assay, the positive and negative percent agreement (PPA, NPA) was defined in comparison to an orthogonal EUA RT-PCR assay (PPA [95% CI]: 96.77% [90.56%-100%] and NPA [95% CI]: 100% [100%-100%]). Data reported using our assay defined the limit of detection to be 40 copies/ml using heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 viral genome in clinical matrices. In-silico analysis provided &gt;99.9% coverage across the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome and no cross-reactivity with evolutionarily similar respiratory pathogens. Conclusion The SARS-CoV-2 NGS Assay powered by the COVID-DX Software can be used to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus and provide additional insight into viral titer and genetic variants to track transmission, stratify risk, predict outcome and therapeutic response, and control the spread of infectious disease. Disclosures Dorottya Nagy-Szakal, MD PhD, Biotia (Employee) Mara Couto-Rodriguez, MS, Biotia (Employee) Joseph Barrows, MS, Biotia, Inc. (Employee, Shareholder) Heather L. Wells, MPH, Biotia (Consultant) Marilyne Debieu, PhD, Biotia (Employee) Courteny Hager, BS, Biotia (Employee) Kristin Butcher, MS, Twist Bioscience (Employee) Siyuan Chen, PhD, Twist Bioscience (Employee) Christopher Mason, PhD, Biotia (Board Member, Employee, Shareholder) Niamh B. O’Hara, PhD, Biotia (Board Member, Employee, Shareholder)Twist (Other Financial or Material Support, I am CEO of Biotia and Biotia has business partnership with Twist)


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Feifei Zhang ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Jiang Yu ◽  
Xueqing Yao ◽  
Shibin Yang ◽  
...  

AbstractDe novo and acquired resistance, which are mainly mediated by genetic alterations, are barriers to effective routine chemotherapy. However, the mechanisms underlying gastric cancer (GC) resistance to chemotherapy are still unclear. We showed that the long noncoding RNA CRNDE was related to the chemosensitivity of GC in clinical samples and a PDX model. CRNDE was decreased and inhibited autophagy flux in chemoresistant GC cells. CRNDE directly bound to splicing protein SRSF6 to reduce its protein stability and thus regulate alternative splicing (AS) events. We determined that SRSF6 regulated the PICALM exon 14 skip splice variant and triggered a significant S-to-L isoform switch, which contributed to the expression of the long isoform of PICALM (encoding PICALML). Collectively, our findings reveal the key role of CRNDE in autophagy regulation, highlighting the significance of CRNDE as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target against chemoresistance in GC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita G. Amin ◽  
Prithwiraj De ◽  
Barbara Graham ◽  
Roger I. Calderon ◽  
Molly F. Franke ◽  
...  

AbstractOur study sought to determine whether urine lipoarabinomannan (LAM) could be validated in a sample cohort that consisted mainly of HIV uninfected individuals that presented with tuberculosis symptoms. We evaluated two tests developed in our laboratory, and used them on clinical samples from Lima, Peru where incidence of HIV is low. ELISA analysis was performed on 160 samples (from 140 adult culture-confirmed TB cases and 20 symptomatic TB-negative child controls) using 100 μL of urine after pretreatment with Proteinase K. Two different mouse monoclonal antibodies-CS35 and CHCS9-08 were used individually for capture of urine LAM. Among cases, optical density (OD450) values had a positive association with higher bacillary loads. The 20 controls had negative values (below the limit of detection). The assay correctly identified all samples (97–100% accuracy confidence interval). For an alternate validation of the ELISA results, we analyzed all 160 urine samples using an antibody independent chemoanalytical approach. Samples were called positive only when LAM surrogates—tuberculostearic acid (TBSA) and d-arabinose (d-ara)—were found to be present in similar amounts. All TB cases, including the 40 with a negative sputum smear had LAM in detectable quantities in urine. None of the controls had detectable amounts of LAM. Our study shows that urinary LAM detection is feasible in HIV uninfected, smear negative TB patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (S10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenmiao Zhang ◽  
Lu Zhang

Abstract Background Due to the complexity of microbial communities, de novo assembly on next generation sequencing data is commonly unable to produce complete microbial genomes. Metagenome assembly binning becomes an essential step that could group the fragmented contigs into clusters to represent microbial genomes based on contigs’ nucleotide compositions and read depths. These features work well on the long contigs, but are not stable for the short ones. Contigs can be linked by sequence overlap (assembly graph) or by the paired-end reads aligned to them (PE graph), where the linked contigs have high chance to be derived from the same clusters. Results We developed METAMVGL, a multi-view graph-based metagenomic contig binning algorithm by integrating both assembly and PE graphs. It could strikingly rescue the short contigs and correct the binning errors from dead ends. METAMVGL learns the two graphs’ weights automatically and predicts the contig labels in a uniform multi-view label propagation framework. In experiments, we observed METAMVGL made use of significantly more high-confidence edges from the combined graph and linked dead ends to the main graph. It also outperformed many state-of-the-art contig binning algorithms, including MaxBin2, MetaBAT2, MyCC, CONCOCT, SolidBin and GraphBin on the metagenomic sequencing data from simulation, two mock communities and Sharon infant fecal samples. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate METAMVGL outstandingly improves the short contig binning and outperforms the other existing contig binning tools on the metagenomic sequencing data from simulation, mock communities and infant fecal samples.


Author(s):  
Franziska Beck ◽  
Carina Horn ◽  
Antje J. Baeumner

AbstractElectrochemical immunosensors enable rapid analyte quantification in small sample volumes, and have been demonstrated to provide high sensitivity and selectivity, simple miniaturization, and easy sensor production strategies. As a point-of-care (POC) format, user-friendliness is equally important and most often not combinable with high sensitivity. As such, we demonstrate here that a sequence of metal oxidation and reduction, followed by stripping via differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), provides lowest limits of detection within a 2-min automatic measurement. In exchanging gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), which dominate in the development of POC sensors, with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), not only better sensitivity was obtained, but more importantly, the assay protocol could be simplified to match POC requirements. Specifically, we studied both nanoparticles as reporter labels in a sandwich immunoassay with the blood protein biomarker NT-proBNP. For both kinds of nanoparticles, the dose-response curves easily covered the ng∙mL−1 range. The mean standard deviation of all measurements of 17% (n ≥ 4) and a limit of detection of 26 ng∙mL−1 were achieved using AuNPs, but their detection requires addition of HCl, which is impossible in a POC format. In contrast, since AgNPs are electrochemically less stable, they enabled a simplified assay protocol and provided even lower LODs of 4.0 ng∙mL−1 in buffer and 4.7 ng∙mL−1 in human serum while maintaining the same or even better assay reliability, storage stability, and easy antibody immobilization protocols. Thus, in direct comparison, AgNPs clearly outperform AuNPs in desirable POC electrochemical assays and should gain much more attention in the future development of such biosensors.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Caterina De Luca ◽  
Francesco Pepe ◽  
Antonino Iaccarino ◽  
Pasquale Pisapia ◽  
Luisella Righi ◽  
...  

Gene fusions represent novel predictive biomarkers for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we validated a narrow NGS gene panel able to cover therapeutically-relevant gene fusions and splicing events in advanced-stage NSCLC patients. To this aim, we first assessed minimal complementary DNA (cDNA) input and the limit of detection (LoD) in different cell lines. Then, to evaluate the feasibility of applying our panel to routine clinical samples, we retrospectively selected archived lung adenocarcinoma histological and cytological (cell blocks) samples. Overall, our SiRe RNA fusion panel was able to detect all fusions and a splicing event harbored in a RNA pool diluted up to 2 ng/µL. It also successfully analyzed 46 (95.8%) out of 48 samples. Among these, 43 (93.5%) out of 46 samples reproduced the same results as those obtained with conventional techniques. Intriguingly, the three discordant results were confirmed by a CE-IVD automated real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis (Easy PGX platform, Diatech Pharmacogenetics, Jesi, Italy). Based on these findings, we conclude that our new SiRe RNA fusion panel is a valid and robust tool for the detection of clinically relevant gene fusions and splicing events in advanced NSCLC.


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