Recent Developments in Culture-Independent Fungal Diagnostics

Abstract

Culture-independent diagnostics for fungi potentially offer increased sensitivity and more rapid results relative to culture. Recent developments include new platforms for fungal cell wall antigen detection, commercially available targeted nucleic acid amplification tests, and the use of sequencing-based technologies for the detection and identification of a broad range of fungal pathogens. Although these tests are not without limitations, many more commercially available platforms now exist, and efforts to increase the standardization of laboratory-developed tests are ongoing. Additionally, implementation studies are beginning to delineate the optimal use cases for molecular diagnostics across a range of fungal diseases and at-risk populations.

Keywords: Culture-independent diagnostics; Fungal biomarkers; Metagenomics; Molecular diagnostics; Pan-fungal sequencing.