Laboratory Diagnostics for Fungal Infections: A Review of Current and Future Diagnostic Assays

Poornima Ramanan; Nancy L Wengenack; Elitza S Theel

doi:10.1016/j.ccm.2017.04.013

Laboratory Diagnostics for Fungal Infections: A Review of Current and Future Diagnostic Assays

Clin Chest Med. 2017 Sep;38(3):535-554. doi: 10.1016/j.ccm.2017.04.013. Epub 2017 May 31.

Authors

Poornima Ramanan¹, Nancy L Wengenack¹, Elitza S Theel²

Affiliations

¹ Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
² Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. Electronic address: theel.elitza@mayo.edu.

PMID: 28797494
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccm.2017.04.013

Abstract

This article reviews the current diagnostic approaches, both serologic and molecular, for the detection of fungi associated with pulmonary disease. Classic serologic techniques, including immunodiffusion and complement fixation, both of which remain a cornerstone for fungal diagnostic testing, are reviewed and their performance characteristics presented. More recent advances in this field, including novel lateral-flow assays for fungal antigen detection, are also described. Molecular techniques for fungal identification both from culture and directly from patient specimens, including nucleic acid probes, mass spectrometry-based methods, nucleic acid amplification testing, and traditional and broad-range sequencing, are discussed and their performance evaluated.

Keywords: Antibody; Antigen; Invasive fungal diagnostics; Molecular methods; Serology.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Clinical Laboratory Techniques / methods*
Humans
Mycoses / diagnosis*