TY - JOUR
T1 - Propionibacterium acnes
T2 - disease-causing agent or common contaminant? Detection in diverse patient samples by next-generation sequencing
AU - Mollerup, Sarah
AU - Friis-Nielsen, Jens
AU - Vinner, Lasse
AU - Hansen, Thomas Arn
AU - Richter, Stine Raith
AU - Fridholm, Eva Marie Helena
AU - Herrera, Jose Alejandro Romero
AU - Lund, Ole
AU - Brunak, Søren
AU - Izarzugaza, Jose M. G.
AU - Mourier, Tobias
AU - Nielsen, Lars Peter
AU - Hansen, Anders Johannes
N1 - Copyright © 2016 Mollerup et al.
PY - 2016/4
Y1 - 2016/4
N2 - Propionibacterium acnesis the most abundant bacterium on human skin, particularly in sebaceous areas.P. acnesis suggested to be an opportunistic pathogen involved in the development of diverse medical conditions but is also a proven contaminant of human clinical samples and surgical wounds. Its significance as a pathogen is consequently a matter of debate. In the present study, we investigated the presence ofP. acnesDNA in 250 next-generation sequencing data sets generated from 180 samples of 20 different sample types, mostly of cancerous origin. The samples were subjected to either microbial enrichment, involving nuclease treatment to reduce the amount of host nucleic acids, or shotgun sequencing. We detected high proportions ofP. acnesDNA in enriched samples, particularly skin tissue-derived and other tissue samples, with the levels being higher in enriched samples than in shotgun-sequenced samples.P. acnesreads were detected in most samples analyzed, though the proportions in most shotgun-sequenced samples were low. Our results show thatP. acnescan be detected in practically all sample types when molecular methods, such as next-generation sequencing, are employed. The possibility of contamination from the patient or other sources, including laboratory reagents or environment, should therefore always be considered carefully whenP. acnesis detected in clinical samples. We advocate that detection ofP. acnesalways be accompanied by experiments validating the association between this bacterium and any clinical condition.
AB - Propionibacterium acnesis the most abundant bacterium on human skin, particularly in sebaceous areas.P. acnesis suggested to be an opportunistic pathogen involved in the development of diverse medical conditions but is also a proven contaminant of human clinical samples and surgical wounds. Its significance as a pathogen is consequently a matter of debate. In the present study, we investigated the presence ofP. acnesDNA in 250 next-generation sequencing data sets generated from 180 samples of 20 different sample types, mostly of cancerous origin. The samples were subjected to either microbial enrichment, involving nuclease treatment to reduce the amount of host nucleic acids, or shotgun sequencing. We detected high proportions ofP. acnesDNA in enriched samples, particularly skin tissue-derived and other tissue samples, with the levels being higher in enriched samples than in shotgun-sequenced samples.P. acnesreads were detected in most samples analyzed, though the proportions in most shotgun-sequenced samples were low. Our results show thatP. acnescan be detected in practically all sample types when molecular methods, such as next-generation sequencing, are employed. The possibility of contamination from the patient or other sources, including laboratory reagents or environment, should therefore always be considered carefully whenP. acnesis detected in clinical samples. We advocate that detection ofP. acnesalways be accompanied by experiments validating the association between this bacterium and any clinical condition.
KW - Bacterial Infections
KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
KW - Humans
KW - Neoplasms
KW - Propionibacterium acnes
KW - Journal Article
KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
U2 - 10.1128/JCM.02723-15
DO - 10.1128/JCM.02723-15
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 26818667
SN - 0095-1137
VL - 54
SP - 980
EP - 987
JO - Journal of Clinical Microbiology
JF - Journal of Clinical Microbiology
IS - 4
ER -
