TY - JOUR

T1 - Propionibacterium acnes

T2 - disease-causing agent or common contaminant? Detection in diverse patient samples by next-generation sequencing

AU - Mollerup, Sarah

AU - Friis-Nielsen, Jens

AU - Vinner, Lasse

AU - Hansen, Thomas Arn

AU - Richter, Stine Raith

AU - Fridholm, Eva Marie Helena

AU - Herrera, Jose Alejandro Romero

AU - Lund, Ole

AU - Brunak, Søren

AU - Izarzugaza, Jose M. G.

AU - Mourier, Tobias

AU - Nielsen, Lars Peter

AU - Hansen, Anders Johannes

N1 - Copyright © 2016 Mollerup et al.

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Propionibacterium acnesis the most abundant bacterium on human skin, particularly in sebaceous areas.P. acnesis suggested to be an opportunistic pathogen involved in the development of diverse medical conditions but is also a proven contaminant of human clinical samples and surgical wounds. Its significance as a pathogen is consequently a matter of debate. In the present study, we investigated the presence ofP. acnesDNA in 250 next-generation sequencing data sets generated from 180 samples of 20 different sample types, mostly of cancerous origin. The samples were subjected to either microbial enrichment, involving nuclease treatment to reduce the amount of host nucleic acids, or shotgun sequencing. We detected high proportions ofP. acnesDNA in enriched samples, particularly skin tissue-derived and other tissue samples, with the levels being higher in enriched samples than in shotgun-sequenced samples.P. acnesreads were detected in most samples analyzed, though the proportions in most shotgun-sequenced samples were low. Our results show thatP. acnescan be detected in practically all sample types when molecular methods, such as next-generation sequencing, are employed. The possibility of contamination from the patient or other sources, including laboratory reagents or environment, should therefore always be considered carefully whenP. acnesis detected in clinical samples. We advocate that detection ofP. acnesalways be accompanied by experiments validating the association between this bacterium and any clinical condition.

AB - Propionibacterium acnesis the most abundant bacterium on human skin, particularly in sebaceous areas.P. acnesis suggested to be an opportunistic pathogen involved in the development of diverse medical conditions but is also a proven contaminant of human clinical samples and surgical wounds. Its significance as a pathogen is consequently a matter of debate. In the present study, we investigated the presence ofP. acnesDNA in 250 next-generation sequencing data sets generated from 180 samples of 20 different sample types, mostly of cancerous origin. The samples were subjected to either microbial enrichment, involving nuclease treatment to reduce the amount of host nucleic acids, or shotgun sequencing. We detected high proportions ofP. acnesDNA in enriched samples, particularly skin tissue-derived and other tissue samples, with the levels being higher in enriched samples than in shotgun-sequenced samples.P. acnesreads were detected in most samples analyzed, though the proportions in most shotgun-sequenced samples were low. Our results show thatP. acnescan be detected in practically all sample types when molecular methods, such as next-generation sequencing, are employed. The possibility of contamination from the patient or other sources, including laboratory reagents or environment, should therefore always be considered carefully whenP. acnesis detected in clinical samples. We advocate that detection ofP. acnesalways be accompanied by experiments validating the association between this bacterium and any clinical condition.

KW - Bacterial Infections

KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing

KW - Humans

KW - Neoplasms

KW - Propionibacterium acnes

KW - Journal Article

KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

U2 - 10.1128/JCM.02723-15

DO - 10.1128/JCM.02723-15

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26818667

VL - 54

SP - 980

EP - 987

JO - Journal of Clinical Microbiology

JF - Journal of Clinical Microbiology

SN - 0095-1137

IS - 4

ER -