Detection of Pathogens in unknown fever cases using Nanopore Sequencer

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14417
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Genome biology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Suzuki Yutaka 東京大学, 大学院新領域創成科学研究科, 教授 (40323646)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 山岸 潤也 北海道大学, 人獣共通感染症リサーチセンター, 准教授 (80535328)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: ゲノム / 簡易型シークエンサー / 熱帯感染症 / 迅速診断

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we have attempted to develop a method to detect pathogens in patients having unknown fevers. Even though we were not able to develop the method based on the random-primer amplification due to the high-level noises, we successfully develop the method, by which representative viral, bacterial and parasite pathogens, such as dengue viruses, 16S rRNA sequencing for pan-bacterial detections, and malaria parasites, respectively, could be robustly detected. We actually applied the developed method to diagnose the feverish patients in Manado, Indonesia. We have reported the successful diagnosis from more than 50 cases regarding their infecting pathogens. Moreover, it was possible to identify the SNPs in their genomes. Especially, we found that the SNPs residing in the drug-resistance related genes should have particularly important clinical relevance, when the therapeutic strategy of the patients should be decided.

Free Research Field

ゲノム科学