title: [Usefulness of variable numbers of tandem repeats typing in clinical strains of Mycobacterium avium].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the usefulness of Variable Numbers of Tandem Repeats (VNTR) analysis, which was recently reported as a new typing method of Mycobacterium avium strains of animal origin, for strain differentiation of clinical isolates of M. avium in comparison with the standard IS1245-RFLP typing method. In addition, forty M. avium isolates recovered from sputum samples of same patient in different times were analyzed with VNTR typing method.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects were twenty-four clinical isolates of M. avium stocked at Higashi Nagoya National Hospital and discriminatory power was evaluated with Hunter Gaston Discriminatory Index (HGDI). Furthermore, forty M. avium isolates recovered from sputum samples of one patient obtained at four different times were analyzed by using this VNTR typing method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  VNTR typing showed better discriminatory power for twenty-four clinical isolates than IS1245-RFLP method (HGDI: 0.975 vs 0.866). In the second study, polyclonal infection of four genotype strains with different allele profiles were detected. The ratio of mixture of the four different genotype strains varied during clinical course.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We considered that VNTR typing method was very useful for discriminatory examination of M. avium.
authors.affiliation: Meijo University Graduate School Pharmaceutical Sciences Postgraduate Course, National Hospital for Geriatric Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moriyama
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishimori
authors.forename: Keiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uchiya
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yagi
authors.forename: Ikkou
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.forename: Taku
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tarumi
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nikai
mesh_terms: D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009162:Mycobacterium avium / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000382:microbiology