Polymerase chain reaction and reverse cross blot hybridization assay for detection of mycobacterial DNA in lupus vulgaris.
For 5 years, an 83-year-old man had been suffering from slightly itchy erythematous plaques with clearcut margins, located on his left thigh and on his right arm; in addition, on his right auricle there was an erythematous patch with yellowish shadings that had appeared about 3 years before and had progressively spread to the temporal-zygomatic region, the chin and the mandibular arch. These lesions were strongly suggestive of lupus vulgaris; however the conventional bacteriological examinations performed on the biopsy specimen from lesional skin were negative. A diagnosis of lupus vulgaris was achieved through the detection of the 16S rRNA gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a skin biopsy of the patient by means of a polymerase chain reaction followed by a reverse cross blot hybridization, a method which allows the identification of different mycobacterial species in a single hybridization procedure.
Sanguinetti
M
M
Istituto di Microbiologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italia.
Posteraro
B
B
Chinni
L M
LM
Ruggeri
S
S
Camaioni
D B
DB
Gobello
T
T
Fadda
G
G
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008177:Lupus Vulgaris / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics*; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D004269:DNA, Bacterial