Abstract
Background
Staphylococcus aureus is well known to be associated with atopic dermatitis. Recent studies also report S. aureus presence in lesional skin of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and its precursor lesion, actinic keratosis (AK). Therefore, it is of potential clinical interest to monitor skin S. aureus colonization on AK lesions. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a cost-effective, nondestructive, and reagent-free technique for rapid microbial identification. It is based on the use of spectral databases developed with well-characterized strains in conjunction with the application of multivariate statistical analysis to elaborate classification models. In the present cross-lab study, spectral databases containing FTIR spectra of over 1000 staphylococcal isolates obtained from reference and clinical microbiology laboratories across Canada were employed in the FTIR spectroscopic identification of Staphylococcus spp. isolated from AK, SCC and perilesional skin of patients at the Princess Alexandra Hospital Dermatology Clinic in Brisbane, Australia.
Methods
FTIR spectra of 51 staphylococcal isolates from AK, SCC and perilesional skin were acquired by both attenuated total reflectance (ATR)-FTIR and transflection-FTIR spectroscopy. All isolates had been previously characterized by 16S rRNA sequencing. ATR- and transflection-FTIR spectra were recorded in triplicate from isolated colonies taken from the same agar plate. Identification of the bacteria was based on the similarities of their spectra with those in ATR- and transflection-FTIR spectral databases originating from the Canadian lab.
Results
Among the 51 staphylococcal isolates included in this study, identification of S. aureus (n = 24) with 100% specificity and 100% sensitivity was achieved by both ATR- and transflection-FTIR spectroscopy. Overall, FTIR-based species identification was in 90.2% concordance with 16S rRNA sequencing.
Conclusion
This cross-lab study demonstrates the applicability of Canadian isolate-based ATR- and transflection-FTIR spectral databases for the identification of clinical staphylococcal isolates obtained in Australia. The results support the potential utility of FTIR spectroscopic techniques to monitor skin S. aureus colonization on AK lesions.
Disclosures
All authors: No reported disclosures.
Defining and using microbial spectral databases
