Copyright
©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 28, 2015; 21(44): 12667-12675
Published online Nov 28, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i44.12667
Published online Nov 28, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i44.12667
Evaluation of a multiplex PCR assay for detection of cytomegalovirus in stool samples from patients with ulcerative colitis
Saifun Nahar, Ayako Uehara, Gretchen Parrott, Tetsu Kinjo, Takeshi Kinjo, Tetsuo Hirata, Jiro Fujita, Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan
Atsushi Iraha, Akira Hokama, Tetsuya Ohira, Masatoshi Kaida, Nagisa Kinjo, Department of Endoscopy, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan
Author contributions: Nahar S and Iraha A designed and performed the research; Nahar S drafted the manuscript; Hokama A and Parrott G reviewed the manuscript; Uehara A, Parrot G, Ohira T, Kaida M, Kinjo T, Kinjo T, Hirata T and Kinjo N provided technical support; and Hokama A and Fujita J supervised the project.
Institutional review board statement: All stool samples were taken after informed consent and ethical permission was obtained from patients participating in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: To the best of our knowledge, no conflict of interest exists.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Akira Hokama, MD, PhD, Clinical Professor, Department of Endoscopy, University of the Ryukyus, 207 Uehara, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan. hokama-a@med.u-ryukyu.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-98-8951144 Fax: +81-98-8951414
Received: June 1, 2015
Peer-review started: June 3, 2015
First decision: July 10, 2015
Revised: August 3, 2015
Accepted: September 28, 2015
Article in press: September 30, 2015
Published online: November 28, 2015
Processing time: 178 Days and 21.7 Hours
Peer-review started: June 3, 2015
First decision: July 10, 2015
Revised: August 3, 2015
Accepted: September 28, 2015
Article in press: September 30, 2015
Published online: November 28, 2015
Processing time: 178 Days and 21.7 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV) can cause exacerbation of ulcerative colitis (UC). Thus, early diagnosis of CMV infection is important. Although endoscopic biopsy is the best approach for the diagnosis of CMV infection, this procedure may be invasive for patients and damaging to the inflamed intestine. Our prospective study on the use of the qualitative multiplex PCR assay in stool samples revealed that CMV infection is significantly more prevalent in UC active patients with immunosuppressive drugs. The multiplex PCR assay for stool samples may prove useful, non-invasive method to exclude the presence of CMV infection in patients with active UC who are treated with immunosuppressive drugs.