Identification of microbial DNA in human cancer.
BACKGROUND
Microorganisms have been associated with many types of human diseases; however, a significant number of clinically important microbial pathogens remain to be discovered.


METHODS
We have developed a genome-wide approach, called Digital Karyotyping Microbe Identification (DK-MICROBE), to identify genomic DNA of bacteria and viruses in human disease tissues. This method involves the generation of an experimental DNA tag library through Digital Karyotyping (DK) followed by analysis of the tag sequences for the presence of microbial DNA content using a compiled microbial DNA virtual tag library.


RESULTS
To validate this technology and to identify pathogens that may be associated with human cancer pathogenesis, we used DK-MICROBE to determine the presence of microbial DNA in 58 human tumor samples, including brain, ovarian, and colorectal cancers. We detected DNA from Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) in a DK library of a colorectal cancer liver metastasis and in normal tissue from the same patient.


CONCLUSIONS
DK-MICROBE can identify previously unknown infectious agents in human tumors, and is now available for further applications for the identification of pathogen DNA in human cancer and other diseases.
Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Institute, Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. chris.duncan@duke.edu
Christopher G
CG
Duncan
Rebecca J
RJ
Leary
Jimmy Cheng-Ho
JC
Lin
Jordan
J
Cummins
Chunhui
C
Di
Carl F
CF
Schaefer
Tian-Li
TL
Wang
Gregory J
GJ
Riggins
Jennifer
J
Edwards
Darell
D
Bigner
Levy
L
Kopelovich
Bert
B
Vogelstein
Kenneth W
KW
Kinzler
Victor E
VE
Velculescu
Hai
H
Yan