BOSTON - Scientists say they have developed a powerful method for detecting foreign bacteria and viruses in human tissue samples, even if the organisms haven't previously been encountered.

The microbe-hunting method relies on DNA sequence data compiled in the nearly completed Human Genome Project over the past 10 years. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers already are preparing to use the technique to investigate the causes of mysterious chronic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, Type I diabetes, atherosclerosis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and several types of cancer. Undetected, possibly novel infectious agents have been suggested as possible causes of these and other illnesses.

"The technique is good for investigating all these chronic diseases of unknown origin," said Matthew Meyerson, MD, PhD, senior author of a report that will be published online by the journal Nature Genetics on Jan. 14. It will appear in print in the journal's February issue. Another potential use of the method is identifying emerging infectious diseases: examples are HIV and Ebola virus, which were unknown when they first showed up in recent decades.

Microbiologists have traditionally identified pathogens (disease-causing organisms) by growing them in a laboratory dish from a sample of infected tissue. But not all pathogens can be cultured this way. Molecular tools do exist and have been used to identify some new disease organisms, but they have major limitations, said Meyerson.

Meyerson, who trained as a pathologist, has a longstanding interest in diseases whose causes remain unknown or have been wrongly linked to other factors. For example, he noted that doctors used to blame stress and diet for stomach and duodenal ulcers, which only in recent years have been shown to be caused by a bacterial infection. Infections may be involved in a long list of infla
'"/>

Contact: Bill Schaller
william_schaller@dfci.harvard.edu
617-632-5357
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
13-Jan-2002