ArticlePloS one2017
Diagnostic performance of the (1-3)-β-D-glucan assay in patients with Pneumocystis jirovecii compared with those with candidiasis, aspergillosis, mucormycosis, and tuberculosis, and healthy volunteers.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Disseminated Mucormycosis with Characteristic Gastric Ulcers and Extensive Intravascular Invasion after ABO-Incompatible Living-Donor Liver Transplantation: A Case Report.Surgical case reports · 2026Article
- Species-Specific Sensitivity and Levels of Beta-D-Glucan for the Diagnosis of Candidemia-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- A case displaying the importance of JAK1 and JAK2 gene transcription in antifungal defense against coccidioidomycosis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Review
- The Diagnostic Sensitivity of Beta-D-Glucan Assay in Patients with Chronic Disseminated Candidiasis.Mediterranean journal of hematology and infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Review
- Clinical Sensitivity of the (1-3)-β-D-glucan Test for Predicting Candidemia.Annals of laboratory medicine · 2023Article
- Diagnosis of invasive fungal infections: challenges and recent developments.Journal of biomedical science · 2023Review
- A Fatal Rhizopus Species Infection after Facial Injury in a Patient with Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Diabetes Mellitus.Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) · 2023Article
- Laboratory diagnosis of mucormycosis: Present perspective.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2022Review
- Fungal Endophthalmitis in a Case of Rhino-Orbito-Cerebral Mucormycosis: Successfully Treated With Amphotericin B Colloidal Dispersion.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- High-value laboratory testing for hospitalized COVID-19 patients: a review.Future virology · 2021Review
- Diagnostic accuracy of the 1,3-beta-D-glucan test and lactate dehydrogenase for pneumocystis pneumonia in non-HIV patients.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Point-Counterpoint: Should Serum β-d-Glucan Testing Be Used for the Diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia?Journal of clinical microbiology · 2019Article
- Fatal pulmonary infection with respiratory syncytial virus in an immunocompromised adult patient: A case report.Medicine · 2018Article
- The Difficulty of Diagnosing Invasive Aspergillosis Initially Manifesting as Optic Neuropathy.Case reports in ophthalmologyArticle
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDiagnosis of pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) relies on microscopic visualization of P. jirovecii, or detection of Pneumocystis DNA in respiratory specimens, which involves invasive procedures such as bronchoalveolar lavage. The (1-3)-β-D-glucan (BG) assay has been proposed as a less invasive and less expensive diagnostic test to rule out PCP. We therefore compared blood levels of BG in patients with PCP with those of patients with candidemia, chronic disseminated candidiasis (CDC), invasive aspergillosis, mucormycosis, and tuberculosis and those of healthy volunteers.
methodsAdult patients who were diagnosed with PCP, candidemia, CDC, invasive aspergillosis, mucormycosis, and tuberculosis whose blood samples were available, and healthy volunteers were enrolled in a tertiary hospital in Seoul, South Korea, during a 21-month period. The blood samples were assayed with the Goldstream Fungus (1-3)-β-D-glucan test (Gold Mountain River Tech Development, Beijing, China).
resultsA total of 136 individuals including 50 patients P. jirovecii,15 candidemia, 6 CDC, 15 invasive aspergillosis, 10 mucormycosis, and 40 controls (20 TB and 20 healthy volunteers) were included. The mean±SD of the concentration of 1-3-β-D-glucan in the patients with PCP (290.08 pg/mL±199.98) were similar to those of patients with candidemia (314.14 pg/mL±205.60, p = 0.90 at an α = 0.005) and CDC (129.74 pg/mL±182.79, p = 0.03 at an α = 0.005), but higher than those of patients with invasive aspergillosis (131.62 pg/mL±161.67, p = 0.002 at an α = 0.005), mucormycosis (95.08 pg/mL±146.80, p<0.001 at an α = 0.005), and tuberculosis (103.31 pg/mL±140.81, p<0.001 at an α = 0.005) as well as healthy volunteers (101.18 pg/mL±197.52, p<0.001 at an α = 0.005). At a cut-off value > 31.25 pg/mL, which is highly sensitive for PCP versus tuberculosis plus healthy volunteers at the expense of specificity, the BG assay had a sensitivity of 92% (95% CI 81%-98%) and a specificity of 55% (95% CI 39%-71%).
conclusionsThe BG assay appears to be a useful adjunct test for PCP.
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