title: The development of a beacon-based real-time PCR for cytomegalovirus and its application in immunocompromised patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Because of the high cost of commercially available quantitative PCR kits, we developed a beacon- based real-time PCR (B-rt-PCR) for Cytomegalovirus (CMV) viral load determination.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 197 samples from 60 immunocompromised patients, who were bone marrow transplantation recipients or had hematological malignancies, were tested using B-rt-PCR, COBAS Amplicor CMV Monitor test (Amplicor CMV test), and conventional CMV PCR. The correlation results among these 3 assays were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In these 197 samples, the CMV viral load determined by B-rt-PCR for positive specimens ranged from 19.8 to 4148.7 copies/10(5) peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). When any positive result of B-rt-PCR, the Amplicor CMV test, or conventional PCR was considered as "CMV positive" for the 56 specimens tested by all three methods, we found that the positive and negative predictive values, respectively, were 100% and 98.6% for B-rt-PCR, 100% and 46.2% for the Amplicor CMV test, and 100% and 89.4% for conventional PCR. These three methods had good specificity (all 100%). However, the sensitivity rate of B-rt-PCR (96.3%) was higher compared to the Amplicor CMV test (46.2%) and conventional PCR (89.4%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The B-rt-PCR is evaluated to be a sensitive method for CMV detection in immunocompromised patients.
authors: Yi-Ching
authors: YC
authors: Tung
authors: Liang-Yin
authors: LY
authors: Ke
authors: Wen-Chan
authors: WC
authors: Tsai
authors: Kuei-Hsiang
authors: KH
authors: Lin
authors: Shih-Meng
authors: SM
authors: Tsai
authors: Chu-Feng
authors: CF
authors: Wang
authors: Hsiao-Fen
authors: HF
authors: Lee
authors: Hui-Ju
authors: HJ
authors: Su
authors: Po-Liang
authors: PL
authors: Lu
mesh_terms: D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000235:genetics*; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral