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Multiplex Detection of Human Herpesviruses from Archival Specimens by Using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry

The Swedish National Biobanking Program,¹ Departments of Clinical Chemistry,² Medical Microbiology, Lund University, Malmö University Hospital, S-205 02, Malmö, Sweden³

Received 6 August 2007/ Returned for modification 24 September 2007/ Accepted 5 December 2007

The human herpesviruses are involved in a variety of diseases. Large-scale evaluation of the clinical and epidemiological importance of different herpesviruses requires high-throughput methods. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is a method that has a multiplex capacity enabling simultaneous detection of several viruses in a single sample. PCR-based methods for the multiplex detection of all known human herpesviruses were developed on the MALDI-TOF MS system. A variety of 882 archival samples, including bronchoalveolar lavage, conjunctival fluid, sore secretion, blister material, plasma, serum, and urine, analyzed for herpesviruses using PCR-based reference methods, were used to evaluate the MALDI-TOF MS method. The overall concordance rate between the MALDI-TOF MS method and the reference methods was 95.6% ( = 0.90). In summary, the MALDI-TOF MS method is well suited for large-scale detection of all known human herpesviruses in a wide variety of archival biological specimens.

Published ahead of print on 19 December 2007.