AEGiS-11IAC: Multiplex polymerase chain reaction for diagnosis of AIDS- related central nervous system lymphoma and toxoplasmosis.

11th International AIDS Conference


Vancouver, British Columbia — July 7-12, 1996

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Multiplex polymerase chain reaction for diagnosis of AIDS- related central nervous system lymphoma and toxoplasmosis.

Int Conf AIDS 1996 Jul 7-12; 11:219 (abstract no. Tu.A.154)
Roberts TC, Storch GA; Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA. Fax: (314)367-3765. E-mail: roberts_T@al.kids.wustl.edu.

OBJECTIVE: Toxoplasma encephalitis and EBV-associated lymphoma are leading causes of space-occupying lesions of the brain in patients with AIDS. A multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed for the simultaneous diagnosis of AIDS-related central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma and toxoplasmosis, and its performance was compared with the PCR assays for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Toxoplasma gondii carried out individually.

METHODS: A nested multiplex PCR assay was designed for the amplification of segments of the Toxoplasma gondii BI gene and the Bam HI-W region of the long internal direct sequence of EBV. The multiplex PCR was performed on cerebrospinal fluid samples from 52 AIDS patients with either clinically diagnosed or histologically proven CNS disease and compared with the PCR assays for EBV and T. gondii performed individually.

RESULTS: Using the multiplex assay, Toxoplasma DNA was detected in 2 of 2 patients with histologically proven Toxoplasma encephalitis, in 5 of 6 patients with a clinical diagnosis of toxoplasmosis and in none of 44 patients without disease. EBV DNA was detected in 5 of 9 patients with proven CNS lymphoma, in 4 of 5 patients with a clinical diagnosis of lymphoma and in 2 of 38 patients without disease. These results were comparable to those obtained when the separate PCR assays for T. gondii and EBV were performed.

CONCLUSION: The multiplex PCR assay accurately diagnoses AIDS-related CNS lymphoma and toxoplasmosis. Given the reduction in time and costs by the simultaneous detection of T. gondii and EBV in one assay, the multiplex PCR assay may become an important component in the evaluation of CNS mass lesions in patients with AIDS.

Keywords: AEGIS, Lymphoma, AIDS-Related, Toxoplasmosis, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Central Nervous System Neoplasms, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Toxoplasmosis, Cerebral, Toxoplasma, Herpesvirus 4, Human, Lymphoma, T-Cell, Lymphoma, Animal, Human, diagnosis, ICA11

960707
TuA154

Copyright © 1996 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.