Molecular diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis in cerebrospinal fluid: comparison of primer sets for Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii species complex

AIM: This study evaluated the use of polymerase chain reaction for cryptococcal meningitis diagnosis in clinical samples. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sensitivity and specificity of the methodology were evaluated using eight Cryptococcus neoformans/C. gattii species complex reference strains and 165 cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with neurological diseases divided into two groups: 96 patients with cryptococcal meningitis and AIDS; and 69 patients with other neurological opportunistic diseases (CRL/AIDS). Two primer sets were tested (CN4–CN5 and the multiplex CNa70S–CNa70A/CNb49S–CNb-49A that amplify a specific product for C. neoformans and another for C. gattii). RESULTS: CN4–CN5 primer set was positive in all Cryptococcus standard strains and in 94.8% in DNA samples from cryptococcal meningitis and AIDS group. With the multiplex, no 448-bp product of C. gattii was observed in the clinical samples of either group. The 695 bp products of C. neoformans were observed only in 64.6% of the cryptococcal meningitis and AIDS group. This primer set was negative for two standard strains. The specificity based on the negative samples from the CTL/AIDS group was 98.5% in both primer sets. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that the CN4/CN5 primer set was highly sensitive for the identification of C. neoformans/C. gattii species complex in cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with clinical suspicion of cryptococcal meningitis.