• Gülçin Bölük, Esra Kazak, Fahir Özkalemkaş, Beyza Ener, Halis Akalin, Harun Ağca, Yıldız Okuturlar, Kürşad Keskin, Başak Burgazlioğlu, and Rıdvan Ali.
• Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Uludağ University, Bursa, Turkey.
• Turk J Med Sci. 2016 Feb 17; 46 (2): 335-42.

Background/AimInvasive aspergillosis (IA) is a fatal infection that is difficult to diagnose in immunocompromised patients. In this study, Aspergillus-specific DNA was searched using real-time PCR (RT-PCR) in serum samples. Galactomannan (GM) and/or beta-D-glucan (BDG) tests were previously performed on these samples for 70 neutropenic patients with hematological malignancy.Materials And MethodsThe patients were categorized according to the criteria of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer/Mycoses Study Group (EORTC/MSG). Among the patient serum samples, the first positive GM or BDG test sample and the median sample of GM or BDG test for negative patients were used to detect DNA levels by RT-PCR method (Light Cycler 480, Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Meylan, France) using a commercial kit (Way2Gene Fungi; Genmar, İzmir, Turkey).ResultsWhen the proven and probable IA group were considered as real patients, sensitivity of Aspergillus-specific DNA test was 90%, specificity was 73.3%, positive predictive value was 81.8%, and negative predictive value was 84.6%.ConclusionThis study found that searching for specific DNA by RT-PCR method has a sensitivity as high as the GM test. Although specificity was rather low, it was concluded that it can be used jointly with GM and BDG tests after decreasing contamination by severe laboratory applications.

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