Real-time PCR assay for improved detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in paraffin-embedded tissues
D Hillemann1, J Galle, E Vollmer
1National Reference Center for Mycobacteria, Research Center Borstel, Germany. dhillemann@fz-borstel.de
Objective:
To test the usefulness of a commercially available real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kit for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues.
Results:
The examination of 24 specimens of patients with a final diagnosis of TB shows that the real-time PCR assay exhibits a higher sensitivity (66.7%) for the detection of MTBC DNA than an alternative in-house IS6110 PCR (33.3%), whereas staining detected acid-fast bacilli in only two cases (8.3%).
Conclusion:
The real-time PCR assay provides a highly sensitive and specific means for the detection of MTBC DNA in histopathological specimens.
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