title: Rapid homogeneous PCR assay for the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in urine samples.
abstract: Chlamydia trachomatis infection is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted disease and a major public health problem worldwide. Fast and sensitive point-of-care diagnostics including non-invasive sample collection would be of value for the prevention of C. trachomatis transmission. The aim of this study was to develop a fast, reliable, non-invasive and easy-to-use homogenous PCR assay for the detection of C. trachomatis. Bacteria were concentrated from urine by a simple and fast centrifugation-based urine pretreatment method. Novel automated GenomEra technology was utilized for the rapid closed-tube PCR including time-resolved fluorometric detection of the target using lanthanide chelate labeled probes. We have developed a rapid C. trachomatis assay which provides qualitative results in 1 h with diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of 98.7% and 97.3%, respectively. The novel assay can be performed with minimal laboratory expertise and without sophisticated DNA-extraction devices and has performance comparable to current gold standard assays.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, University of Turku, Tykistökatu 6A, 20520 Turku, Finland. artule@utu.fi
authors.forename: Ari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lehmusvuori
authors.forename: Etvi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Juntunen
authors.forename: Antti-Heikki
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Tapio
authors.forename: Kaisu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rantakokko-Jalava
authors.forename: Tero
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Soukka
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lövgren
mesh_terms: D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000652:urine; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000652:urine; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial