Evaluation of the Vitek 2 ANC card for identification of clinical isolates of anaerobic bacteria.

An evaluation of the Vitek 2 ANC card (bioMérieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France) was performed with 301 anaerobic isolates. Each strain was identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, which is considered to be the reference method. The Vitek 2 ANC card correctly identified 239 (79.4%) of the 301 clinical isolates to the genus level, including 100 species that were not represented in the database. Correct species identification was obtained for 60.1% (181/301) of the clinical isolates. For the isolates not identified to the species level, a correct genus identification was obtained for 47.0% of them (47/100), and 16 were accurately designated not identified. Although the Vitek 2 ANC card allows the rapid and acceptable identification of the most common clinically important anaerobic bacteria within 6 h, improvement is required for the identification of members of the genera Fusobacterium, Prevotella, and Actinomyces and certain Gram-positive anaerobic cocci (GPAC).

Genomic and gene expression profiling of minute alterations of chromosome arm 1p in small-cell lung carcinoma cells.

Genetic alterations occurring on human chromosome arm 1p are common in many types of cancer including lung, breast, neuroblastoma, pheochromocytoma, and colorectal. The identification of tumour suppressors and oncogenes on this arm has been limited by the low resolution of current technologies for fine mapping. In order to identify genetic alterations on 1p in small-cell lung carcinoma, we developed a new resource for fine mapping segmental DNA copy number alterations. We have constructed an array of 642 ordered and fingerprint-verified bacterial artificial chromosome clones spanning the 120 megabase (Mb) 1p arm from 1p11.2 to p36.33. The 1p arm of 15 small-cell lung cancer cell lines was analysed at sub-Mb resolution using this arm-specific array. Among the genetic alterations identified, two regions of recurrent amplification emerged. They were detected in at least 45% of the samples: a 580 kb region at 1p34.2-p34.3 and a 270 kb region at 1p11.2. We further defined the potential importance of these genomic amplifications by analysing the RNA expression of the genes in these regions with Affymetrix oligonucleotide arrays and semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Our data revealed overexpression of the genes HEYL, HPCAL4, BMP8, IPT, and RLF, coinciding with genomic amplification.