一項研究報告說，血液中的基因表達特征可以幫助區(qū)別幼兒的發(fā)熱是由病毒還是由細(xì)菌造成的,。發(fā)熱是病毒和細(xì)菌感染的一個常見癥狀,，但是發(fā)熱源常常在臨床檢查中不那么顯而易見。Gregory Storch及其同事研究了發(fā)熱兒童的血液是否表現(xiàn)出了病毒和細(xì)菌的特定基因表達特征,，這些特征可能在區(qū)別這兩種發(fā)熱源方面有用,。這組作者分析了來自各種病毒或細(xì)菌感染陽性的30名發(fā)熱兒童以及35名沒有發(fā)熱但是其中一些人呈病毒感染陽性的兒童的基因表達數(shù)據(jù)。這組作者發(fā)現(xiàn)不發(fā)熱的病毒陽性和病毒陰性的兒童的特征譜是相互難以區(qū)分的,，并且有別于發(fā)熱兒童的特征譜,。此外，這項分析揭示出了發(fā)熱兒童的特定病毒感染——諸如皰疹病毒,、腺病毒或腸道病毒——以及急性細(xì)菌感染的獨特特征,；這些特征比區(qū)分細(xì)菌和病毒感染的傳統(tǒng)的白細(xì)胞計數(shù)更準(zhǔn)確。這組作者說,，這些發(fā)現(xiàn)提示血液基因表達分析可能會成為理解兒童發(fā)熱來源的一種有用的工具,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦英文摘要：
Pnas doi: 10.1073/pnas.1302968110
Gene expression profiles in febrile children with defined viral and bacterial infection
Xinran Hua, Jinsheng Yub,,Seth D. Crosbyb, and Gregory A. Storcha
Viral infections are common causes of fever without an apparent source in young children. Despite absence of bacterial infection, many febrile children are treated with antibiotics. Virus and bacteria interact with different pattern recognition receptors in circulating blood leukocytes, triggering specific host transcriptional programs mediating immune response. Therefore, unique transcriptional signatures may be defined that discriminate viral from bacterial causes of fever without an apparent source. Gene expression microarray analyses were conducted on blood samples from 30 febrile children positive for adenovirus, human herpesvirus 6, or enterovirus infection or with acute bacterial infection and 22 afebrile controls. Blood leukocyte transcriptional profiles clearly distinguished virus-positive febrile children from both virus-negative afebrile controls and afebrile children with the same viruses present in the febrile children. Virus-specific gene expression profiles could be defined. The IFN signaling pathway was uniquely activated in febrile children with viral infection, whereas the integrin signaling pathway was uniquely activated in children with bacterial infection. Transcriptional profiles classified febrile children with viral or bacterial infection with better accuracy than white blood cell count in the blood. Similarly accurate classification was shown with data from an independent study using different microarray platforms. Our results support the paradigm of using host response to define the etiology of childhood infections. This approach could be an important supplement to highly sensitive tests that detect the presence of a possible pathogen but do not address its pathogenic role in the patient being evaluated.
