Diagnosis of infection in the lungs of patients
AssigneeStc.Unm
InventorsGraham Timmins, Vojo P. Deretic
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Abstract
The present invention relates to methods for detecting P aeruginosa infection and bacterial burden in the lungs of patients who are at risk for P. aeruginosa infections, especially including patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). The present method provides numerous tests (breath, blood, urine) which are readily administered to a patient that will sensitively and specifically detect the presence and extent of lung infection P. aeruginosa (both mucoid and non-mucoid), and allow monitoring of bacterial load as a parameter in monitoring treatment.
Claims35
A method for diagnosing a presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lungs of a subject, including the steps of:
- (a) administering an effective amount of at least one isotopically labeled active agent selected from the group consisting of a nitrate salt, a nitrite salt, nitric oxide (NO), a nitric oxide precursor compound, urea and glycine or their pharmaceutically acceptable salts to the subject, said active agent being acted upon by P. aeruginosa to form an isotopically labeled cleavage product or metabolite;
- and
- (b) collecting breath, urine, whole blood, plasma or serum samples from the subject;
- and
- (c) analyzing said samples to determine a concentration or concentrations of said cleavage product(s) or metabolite(s), said concentration(s) indicating the presence or absence of P. aeruginosa including optionally, a presence or absence of mucoid phenotype P. aeruginosa, in the lungs of said patient.
A method for diagnosing a urease-positive bacterial infection in the lungs of a subject comprising:
- administrating to the lungs of the subject, an effective amount isotopically labeled urea;
- collecting one or more samples of exhaled breath from the subject;
- and
- analyzing said samples to determine a concentration of isotopically labeled CO2 in said samples;
- said concentration indicating the presence or absence of the urease-positive bacterial infection in the lungs of the subject.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.