DETECTION OF CHLAMYDIA TRACHOMATIS IN
NEONATAL PNEUMONIA BY LIGASE CHAIN REACTION (LCR)-ELISA
Wei H,
Wu S
Children’s Hospital, Chongqing Medical College,
Chongqing, China
Objective: To
establish a sensitive and special method for the detection of Chlamydia
trachomatis using LCR-ELISA.
Methods: Two
pairs of probe encoding chlamydial outer membrane gene were labeled with
biotin and digoxigninen, respectively, and using ligase chain reaction to
amplify the Chlamydia trachomatis DNA in chlamydial strains and nasopharyngeal
swabs from 328 cases of neonatal pneumonia. The amplification products were
captured on streptavidin-coated microplates. The products were qualified. After
revelation with a peroxidase-compled anti-digoxigninen antibody, the amount
was determined by optical reading, and the results were compared with cell
culture and polymerase chain reaction.
Results: A
method of LCR-ELISA for detection Chlamydia trachomatis DNA was
established. The prevalence among the 328 cases of neonatal pneumonia was
21%. Compared
with “expanded golden standard”, the sensitivity and specificity of LCR is
98.6% and 100% for LCR, and 95.6 and 96.9% for PCR respectively, the LCR
provided higher sensitivity compared to cell culture (86.96%).
Conclusions: LCR-ELISA
was established to detect Chlamydia trachomatis. The results showed that
this assay is rapid, sensitive, and specific and is of value in clinical
application.