Pulmonary Metagenomic Sequencing Suggests Missed Infections in Immunocompromised Children

MS Zinter; CC Dvorak; MY Mayday; K Iwanaga; NP Ly; ME McGarry; GD Church; LE Faricy; CM Rowan; JR Hume; ME Steiner; ED Crawford; C Langelier; K Kalantar; ED Chow; S Miller; K Shimano; A Melton; GA Yanik; A Sapru; JL DeRisi

In summary, we present a mNGS assay optimized to evaluate the pulmonary microbiome and detect potential pathogens in immunocompromised children. This assay is highly sensitive, reveals a rich bacterial, fungal, and viral pulmonary microbiome, and further identified potential pathogens in half of previously negative samples. As such, advanced organism detection offers the potential for early implementation of targeted therapy and the possibility for improved clinical outcomes in immunocompromised children. We invite the scientific and clinical community to participate in an ongoing multicenter collaborative clinical trial aimed at further refining this emerging technology (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02926612).