Use of DNA Microarray Analysis in Diagnosis of Bacterial and Fungal Endophthalmitis

Endophthalmitis is a devastating ocular disorder that leads to visual blindness. Rapid detection and identification of the causative pathogens is crucial for vision-saving diagnosis and treatment. Molecular techniques using multiplex or broad-range PCR enable rapid detection and identification of causative pathogens in ocular infectious diseases.1–3 Several problems remain to be solved, however. Multiplex PCR has the drawback of allowing only a limited number of genes to be analyzed in one reaction, and pre-identification of the species level is required. Analysis of amplicons by DNA sequencing, after broad-range PCR, are the most used techniques for identifying DNA, but the time and effort associated with data analysis lead to some limitations. Therefore, improved high-throughput genotyping methods that are sensitive and discriminative are needed.

DNA microarray technology is a promising genotyping method that allows simultaneous identification of a wide variety of genes4–8 and rapid determination of the genetic profile of a microorganism in a single experiment.6–8 Thus, this method may be useful for genetic screening and identification of microorganisms. The aim of this study was to examine the utility of DNA microarray analysis for identifying causative microorganisms in endophthalmitis.

This article is published online in Clinical Ophthalmology and is free to access.