Abstract
DNA amplification using dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) primers in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALFs) from patients with Pneumocystis carinii (PC) pneumonia yielded low sensitivity and specificity. Amplified products of BALFs from an AIDS patient without PC pneumonia and five patients with PC pneumonia were cloned and sequenced. All samples showed the same sequence without any homology with DHFR cDNA of rat PC, or with any DHFR sequences in databases at the DNA or amino acid level. The data demonstrate that these DHFR primers amplify a nonspecific region of DNA with a sequence unrelated to the human PC DHFR gene both in PC positive and in PC negative samples. This finding precludes the use of these DHFR primers for the diagnosis of PC pneumonia in respiratory specimens.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 187-190 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Molecular and Cellular Probes |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 1996 |
Keywords
- DHFR
- DNA sequence
- Pneumocystis carinii
- PVR
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cell Biology
- Molecular Biology