Vancomycin-Resistant Bacteria Detected by Locked Nucleic Acid Probes

Infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) and vancomycin-resistant Staphyloccocus aureus (VRSA), which are serious problems for patients and hospitals worldwide, can be detected by locked nucleic acid probes (LNAs).

Rapid and accurate identification of these pathogens is crucial to ensuring early, appropriate, and effective therapy that will allow hospitals to reduce mortality, patient length of stay, and overall costs, while in the long run tackling the problem of antibiotic resistance.

AdvanDx, Inc. (Woburn, MA, USA) has announced the launch of vanA/B Evigene in Europe. vanA/B Evigene is an in-vitro diagnostic test for detecting VRE and VRSA in positive blood cultures and clinical isolates. The test combines the high specificity of LNA probes with Evigene, a signal amplified sandwich hybridization assay platform, to rapidly and accurately detect both the vanA and vanB genes that confer vancomycin resistance in enterococci and S. aureus.

LNA probes are conformationally restricted nucleic acid analogs that provide enhanced affinity and discrimination as compared to DNA probes. The high sensitivity and specificity of LNA probes allow for accurate detection of low abundance nucleic acids, such as bacterial and viral DNA, microRNA (miRNA), messenger RNA (mRNA), and small interfering RNA (siRNA). Detection of these genetic materials can provide important diagnostic and therapeutic information within the areas of infectious diseases and oncology, as well as drug resistance and therapy monitoring.

A study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA, USA) in the May 2007 issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology concluded that the Evigene technology "…demonstrated 100% sensitivity and specificity for the detection of vanA in vancomycin resistant S. aureus [VRSA] and vanA or vanB in enterococci [VRE].”


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