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Review
. 2022 Aug 27:2022:4024260.
doi: 10.1155/2022/4024260. eCollection 2022.

Application of High-Throughput Sequencing Technology in Identifying the Pathogens in Endophthalmitis

Peini Cheng  1 , Kui Dong  2 , Zhiming Kang  2 , Jing Li  2 , Wenjuan Wang  2 , Xiaodan Zhang  2 , Guohong Zhou  2
Affiliations
Review

Application of High-Throughput Sequencing Technology in Identifying the Pathogens in Endophthalmitis

Peini Cheng et al. J Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Infectious endophthalmitis is an important cause of vision loss worldwide. It is an inflammatory reaction caused by bacteria, fungi, and other micro-organisms and often occurs as a complication of intraocular surgery, especially following cataract surgery or intravitreal injection. The focus of the prevention and treatment of infectious endophthalmitis is the early detection of microbial flora, such as fungi or bacteria. Current identification methods for bacteria include Gram staining-based, culture-based, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods. The matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry technology is now the standard identification method of bacteria and fungi after their isolation in culture. The remarkable sensitivity of PCR technology for the direct detection of micro-organisms in clinical samples makes it particularly useful in culture-positive and culture-negative endophthalmitis. Furthermore, PCR increases the rate of microorganism detection in intraocular samples by 20% and can provide a microbiology diagnosis in approximately 44.7-100% of the culture-negative cases. This review aims to introduce the development of different methods for the detection and identification of micro-organisms causing endophthalmitis through a literature review; introduce the research status of the first, second, and third-generation sequencing technologies in infectious endophthalmitis; and understand the research status of endophthalmitis microbial flora. For slow-growing and rare micro-organisms, high-throughput sequencing (HTS) offers advantages over conventional methods and provides a basis for the identification of pathogens in endophthalmitis cases with negative culture. It is a reliable platform for the identification of pathogenic bacteria of infectious endophthalmitis in the future and provides a reference for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of infectious endophthalmitis. The application of HTS technology may also be transformative for clinical microbiology and represents an exciting future direction for the epidemiology of ocular infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Development of sequencing technology and application in identifying the pathogens in endophthalmitis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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