Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26818667›Full record

ArticleJournal of clinical microbiology2016

Propionibacterium acnes: Disease-Causing Agent or Common Contaminant? Detection in Diverse Patient Samples by Next-Generation Sequencing.

Sarah Mollerup, Jens Friis-Nielsen, Lasse Vinner, Thomas Arn Hansen, Stine Raith Richter, Helena Fridholm, Jose Alejandro Romero Herrera, Ole Lund, Søren Brunak, Jose M G Izarzugaza and 3 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of clinical microbiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
55citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

55 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Biology · 2025
    Review
  4. Nationwide multicentre study of Nanopore long-read sequencing for 16S rRNA-species identification.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2025
    Article
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  15. DifferentInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2022
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Sarah MollerupCentre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark sarah.mollerup@snm.ku.dk ajhansen@snm.ku.dk.
Jens Friis-NielsenCenter for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
Lasse VinnerCentre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Thomas Arn HansenCentre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Stine Raith RichterCentre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Helena FridholmCentre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jose Alejandro Romero HerreraCenter for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
Ole LundCenter for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
Søren BrunakCenter for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark Disease Systems Biology Program, Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jose M G IzarzugazaCenter for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
Tobias MourierCentre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Lars Peter NielsenDepartment of Autoimmunology and Biomarkers, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen S, and Aalborg University, Health Sciences, Aalborg, Denmark.
Anders Johannes HansenCentre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark sarah.mollerup@snm.ku.dk ajhansen@snm.ku.dk.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Propionibacterium acnesis the most abundant bacterium on human skin, particularly in sebaceous areas.P. acnesis suggested to be an opportunistic pathogen involved in the development of diverse medical conditions but is also a proven contaminant of human clinical samples and surgical wounds. Its significance as a pathogen is consequently a matter of debate. In the present study, we investigated the presence ofP. acnesDNA in 250 next-generation sequencing data sets generated from 180 samples of 20 different sample types, mostly of cancerous origin. The samples were subjected to either microbial enrichment, involving nuclease treatment to reduce the amount of host nucleic acids, or shotgun sequencing. We detected high proportions ofP. acnesDNA in enriched samples, particularly skin tissue-derived and other tissue samples, with the levels being higher in enriched samples than in shotgun-sequenced samples.P. acnesreads were detected in most samples analyzed, though the proportions in most shotgun-sequenced samples were low. Our results show thatP. acnescan be detected in practically all sample types when molecular methods, such as next-generation sequencing, are employed. The possibility of contamination from the patient or other sources, including laboratory reagents or environment, should therefore always be considered carefully whenP. acnesis detected in clinical samples. We advocate that detection ofP. acnesalways be accompanied by experiments validating the association between this bacterium and any clinical condition.

Indexed as

High-Throughput Nucleotide SequencingBacterial InfectionsHumansNeoplasmsPropionibacterium acnes

Identifiers

PMID26818667
PMCPMC4809928

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.