Introduction: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a member of the Herpesviruses family. CMV infection rarely causes serious disease in otherwise healthy individuals, however, infection/reactivation among immunocompromised patients, including those undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), can be critical and is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. The detection of CMV in blood using real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) methods is the most sensitive and specific technique providing for a well-determined preemptive treatment cutoff.
Aim: This study compares the performance of two new CMV qPCR platforms, COBAS(®) Ampliprep/COBAS(®) TaqMan(®) (Roche Molecular Diagnostics) and Artus RotorGene (QIAGEN).
Methods: A total of 99 patients referred for CMV testing at AUBMC were tested using the Artus CMV RG PCR kit and the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan CMV kit as per the manufacturers' recommendations.
Results: The difference between the two methods was within the allowable error for 97 out of 99 specimens (98%), with a correlation coefficient r = 0.80.
Conclusion: The Artus CMV RG PCR Kit and the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan CMV kit are both acceptable assays that can be used for the sensitive detection and quantitation of CMV mainly in peripheral blood specimens.