Promising New Assays and Technologies for the Diagnosis and Management of Infectious Diseases

• Published in: Clinical infectious diseases Vol. 56; no. 7; pp. 996 - 1002
• Main Authors: Mitsuma, S. F., Mansour, M. K., Dekker, J. P., Kim, J., Rahman, M. Z., Tweed-Kent, A., Schuetz, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.04.2013
• Series: Editor's choice
• Subjects: Antibiotics; Bioassays; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Blood; Clinical Laboratory Techniques - methods; Clinical Laboratory Techniques - trends; Communicable Diseases - diagnosis; Disease management; Gene expression profiling; Human Genome Project; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Lasers; Mass spectroscopy; Medical diagnosis; Medical sciences; Nucleic acids; Pathogens; Review; REVIEW ARTICLE; RNA; Infection; Clinical management; Diagnosis
• ISSN: 1058-4838; 1537-6591
• DOI: 10.1093/cid/cis1014

In the first decade of the 21st century, we have seen the completion of the human genome project and marked progress in the human microbiome project. The vast amount of data generated from these efforts combined with advances in molecular and biomedical technologies have led to the development of a multitude of assays and technologies that may be useful in the diagnosis and management of infectious diseases. Here, we identify several new assays and technologies that have recently come into clinical use or have potential for clinical use in the near future. The scope of this review is broad and includes topics such as the serum marker procalcitonin, gene expression profiling, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), and nucleic acid aptamers. Principles that underlie each assay or technology, their clinical applications, and potential strengths and limitations are addressed.