Powerful qPCR assays for the early detection of latent invaders: interdisciplinary approaches in clinical cancer research and plant pathology.
Latent invaders represent the first step of disease before symptoms occur in the host. Based on recent findings, tumors are considered to be ecosystems in which cancer cells act as invasive species that interact with the native host cell species. Analogously, in plants latent fungal pathogens coevolve within symptomless host tissues. For these reasons, similar detection approaches can be used for an early diagnosis of the invasion process in both plants and humans to prevent or reduce the spread of the disease. Molecular tools based on the evaluation of nucleic acids have been developed for the specific, rapid, and early detection of human diseases. During the last decades, these techniques to assess and quantify the proliferation of latent invaders in host cells have been transferred from the medical field to different areas of scientific research, such as plant pathology. An improvement in molecular biology protocols (especially referring to qPCR assays) specifically designed and optimized for detection in host plants is therefore advisable. This work is a cross-disciplinary review discussing the use of a methodological approach that is employed within both medical and plant sciences. It provides an overview of the principal qPCR tools for the detection of latent invaders, focusing on comparisons between clinical cancer research and plant pathology, and recent advances in the early detection of latent invaders to improve prevention and control strategies.
National Research Council (IPSP-CNR), Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino Firenze, Italy.
Nicola
N
Luchi
National Research Council (IPSP-CNR), Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino Firenze, Italy.|Department of Agri-Food Productions and Environmental Sciences (DiSPAA), University of Florence, Piazzale delle Cascine 28, Florence, Italy.
Paolo
P
Capretti
Department of Clinical, Experimental and Biomedical Sciences, University of Florence, Viale Pieraccini, 6, 50139, Firenze, Italy.
Mario
M
Pazzagli
Department of Clinical, Experimental and Biomedical Sciences, University of Florence, Viale Pieraccini, 6, 50139, Firenze, Italy. p.pinzani@dfc.unifi.it.
Pamela
P
Pinzani
D005658:Fungi / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D061066:Plant Pathology; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
Circulating tumor cells; Detection; Fungal endophytes; Latent niche; Plant disease; Prevention; Protocols; Real-time PCR