Urinary cell-free DNA is a versatile analyte for monitoring infections of the urinary tract

Philip Burnham, Darshana Dadhania, Michael Heyang, Fanny Chen, Lars F. Westblade, Manikkam Suthanthiran, John Richard Lee () and Iwijn De Vlaminck ()
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Philip Burnham: Cornell University
Darshana Dadhania: Weill Cornell Medicine
Michael Heyang: Cornell University
Fanny Chen: Cornell University
Lars F. Westblade: Weill Cornell Medicine
Manikkam Suthanthiran: Weill Cornell Medicine
John Richard Lee: Weill Cornell Medicine
Iwijn De Vlaminck: Cornell University

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Urinary tract infections are one of the most common infections in humans. Here we tested the utility of urinary cell-free DNA (cfDNA) to comprehensively monitor host and pathogen dynamics in bacterial and viral urinary tract infections. We isolated cfDNA from 141 urine samples from a cohort of 82 kidney transplant recipients and performed next-generation sequencing. We found that urinary cfDNA is highly informative about bacterial and viral composition of the microbiome, antimicrobial susceptibility, bacterial growth dynamics, kidney allograft injury, and host response to infection. These different layers of information are accessible from a single assay and individually agree with corresponding clinical tests based on quantitative PCR, conventional bacterial culture, and urinalysis. In addition, cfDNA reveals the frequent occurrence of pathologies that remain undiagnosed with conventional diagnostic protocols. Our work identifies urinary cfDNA as a highly versatile analyte to monitor infections of the urinary tract.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04745-0

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