MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry as a potential tool for Trichomonas vaginalis identification

BMC Infectious Diseases

Research Article

Mirko Buttrini¹  Carlo Chezzi¹  Adriana Calderaro¹  Sabina Rossi¹  Flora De Conto¹  Maddalena Piergianni¹  Maria Cristina Arcangeletti¹  Sara Montecchini¹  Giovanna Piccolo¹  Maria Cristina Medici¹ 

[1] Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Parma, Viale A. Gramsci, 14-43126, Parma, Italy;

关键词: Trichomonas vaginalis;    MALDI-TOF MS;    Proteic profile;    Parameter setting;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12879-016-1594-z

 received in 2015-09-05, accepted in 2016-05-26,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTrichomonas vaginalis is a flagellated protozoan causing trichomoniasis, a sexually transmitted human infection, with around 276.4 million new cases estimated by World Health Organization. Culture is the gold standard method for the diagnosis of T. vaginalis infection. Recently, immunochromatographic assays as well as PCR assays for the detection of T. vaginalis antigen or DNA, respectively, have been also available. Although the well-known genome sequence of T. vaginalis has made possible the application of proteomic studies, few data are available about the overall proteomic expression profiling of T. vaginalis. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential application of MALDI-TOF MS as a new tool for the identification of T. vaginalis.MethodsTwenty-one isolates were analysed by MALDI-TOF MS after the creation of a Main Spectrum Profile (MSP) from a T. vaginalis reference strain (G3) and its subsequent supplementation in the Bruker Daltonics database, not including any profile of protozoa. This was achieved after the development of a new identification method created by modifying the range setting (6–10 kDa) for the MALDI-TOF MS analysis in order to exclude the overlapping of peaks derived from the culture media used in this study.ResultsTwo MSP reference spectra were created in 2 different range: 3–15 kDa (standard range setting) and 6–10 kDa (new range setting). Both MSP spectra were deposited in the MALDI BioTyper database for further identification of additional T. vaginalis strains. All the 21 strains analysed in this study were correctly identified by using the new identification method.ConclusionsIn this study it was demonstrated that changes in the MALDI-TOF MS standard parameters usually used to identify bacteria and fungi allowed the identification of the protozoan T. vaginalis. This study shows the usefulness of MALDI-TOF MS in the reliable identification of microorganism grown on complex liquid media such as the protozoan T. vaginalis, on the basis of the proteic profile and not on the basis of single markers, by using a “new range setting” different from that developed for bacteria and fungi.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Calderaro et al. 2016