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Gene chips ID ventilator-linked pneumonia


Published: Feb. 13, 2008 at 1:03 PM
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ST. LOUIS, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have used gene chip technology to identify hard-to-diagnose ventilator-linked cases of pneumonia.

Critically ill patients sometimes require the use of mechanical ventilators, but then face a high risk of pneumonia. Such lung infections, said the researchers, are difficult to diagnose because a patient's underlying condition often skews laboratory test results.

In the new research, scientists at Washington University in St. Louis used gene chip technology to demonstrate for the first time they can distinguish ventilator-linked pneumonia from other serious illnesses.

The team analyzed patterns of expression in more than 8,000 genes as patients on mechanical ventilators developed and recovered from pneumonia. They found changes in 85 genes could be used to pinpoint early activation of the immune system in response to pneumonia.

"This is an important step toward the development of a specific molecular test for diagnosing infection … and predicting patients' recovery," said Dr. J. Perren Cobb. "If we could determine which patients are destined to develop pneumonia based on early changes in the activity of genes … we could give them antibiotics sooner, with the hope we might be able to prevent or curtail the infection."

The research appears in the online journal PLoS One.

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