Parasite detection via endosymbiont detection
First Claim
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1. A method of identifying a parasite in a subject comprising:
- a) providing;
i) a blood sample from a human subject suspected of being infected with a parasite, wherein said parasite is associated with a specific Wolbachia species or subspecies endosymbiont; and
ii) a nucleic acid detection assay configured to detect nucleic acid from said endosymbiont wherein said nucleic acid detection assay comprises at least one primer pair, and said contacting generates endosymbiont amplicons using said primer pair under amplification conditions; and
b) contacting said sample with said nucleic acid detection assay under conditions such that the presence or absence of said Wolbachia species or subspecies endosymbiont in said sample is determined, wherein said presence of said Wolbachia species or subspecies endosymbiont uniquely identifies said subject as being infected with said parasite;
c) determining a partial base count of at least a subsequence of said endosymbiont amplicons to produce base count data; and
d) diagnosing said subject as being infected with said parasite based on said presence of said Wolbachia species or subspecies endosymbiont in said sample wherein said diagnosing is accomplished without directly detecting the presence of said parasite in said subject.
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Abstract
The present invention provides systems, methods, and compositions for identifying a subject as infected with a parasite by detecting nucleic acid from an endosymbiont of the parasite in a sample from the subject. In certain embodiments, the parasite is a nematode that infects humans or dogs (e.g., D. immitis, O. volvulus, W. bancrofti, B. timori, or B. malayi) and the endosymbiont is Wolbachia.
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12 Claims
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1. A method of identifying a parasite in a subject comprising:
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a) providing; i) a blood sample from a human subject suspected of being infected with a parasite, wherein said parasite is associated with a specific Wolbachia species or subspecies endosymbiont; and ii) a nucleic acid detection assay configured to detect nucleic acid from said endosymbiont wherein said nucleic acid detection assay comprises at least one primer pair, and said contacting generates endosymbiont amplicons using said primer pair under amplification conditions; and b) contacting said sample with said nucleic acid detection assay under conditions such that the presence or absence of said Wolbachia species or subspecies endosymbiont in said sample is determined, wherein said presence of said Wolbachia species or subspecies endosymbiont uniquely identifies said subject as being infected with said parasite; c) determining a partial base count of at least a subsequence of said endosymbiont amplicons to produce base count data; and d) diagnosing said subject as being infected with said parasite based on said presence of said Wolbachia species or subspecies endosymbiont in said sample wherein said diagnosing is accomplished without directly detecting the presence of said parasite in said subject. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system, comprising:
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a) a mass spectrometer configured to detect one or more molecular masses of amplicons produced using at least one purified oligonucleotide primer pair that comprises forward and reverse primers, wherein said primer pair is configured to hybridize with conserved regions of Wolbachia nucleic acid that flank a variable region of nucleic acid specific for a Wolbachia species or subspecies endosymbiont; b) a controller operably connected to said mass spectrometer, said controller configured to correlate said molecular masses of said amplicons with one or more Wolbachiaspecies or subspecies endosymbiont identities; and c) a database of partial base counts wherein said database of partial base counts comprises partial base counts comprising the number of any one of four nucleobase types, any two of four nucleobase types, or any three of four nucleobase types.
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Specification