Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31443725›Full record

ArticleJournal of translational medicine2019

Diagnosing enterovirus meningitis via blood transcriptomics: an alternative for lumbar puncture?

Esther Bartholomeus, Nicolas De Neuter, Annelies Lemay, Luc Pattyn, David Tuerlinckx, David Weynants, Koen Van Lede, Gerlant van Berlaer, Dominique Bulckaert, Tine Boiy and 15 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of translational medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 29% of its field
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

5 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. The T cell receptor landscape of childhood brain tumors.Science translational medicine · 2025
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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

25 authors at 10 institutions in 2 countries.

Esther BartholomeusCenter of Medical Genetics, University of Antwerp/Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0003-2127-5161
Nicolas De NeuterAUDACIS, Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Annelies LemayDepartment of Paediatrics, AZ Turnhout, Turnhout, Belgium.
Luc PattynDepartment of Paediatrics, AZ Turnhout, Turnhout, Belgium.
David TuerlinckxUniversité Catholique de Louvain/CHU UCL Namur, Site Dinant, Service de Pédiatrie, Dinant, Belgium.
David WeynantsDepartment of Paediatrics, CHU ULC Namur Ste Elisabeth, Namur, Belgium.
Koen Van LedeDepartment of Paediatrics, AZ Nikolaas, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium.
Gerlant van BerlaerDepartment of Emergency Medicine/Pediatric Care, University Hospital Brussels, Jette, Belgium.
Dominique BulckaertDepartment of Emergency Medicine/Pediatric Care, University Hospital Brussels, Jette, Belgium.
Tine BoiyDepartment of Paediatrics, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium.
Ann Vander AuweraDepartment of Paediatrics, GZA Sint-Augustinus, Wilrijk, Belgium.
Marc RaesDepartment of Paediatrics, Jessa Hospital, Hasselt, Belgium.
Dimitri Van der LindenPaediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Paediatrics, CHU ULC Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium.
Helene VerhelstDepartment of Paediatric Rheumatology, University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.
Susanne Van SteijnDepartment of Paediatrics, ZNA Paola, Antwerp, Belgium.
Tijl JonckheerDepartment of Paediatrics, GZA Sint-Vincentius, Antwerp, Belgium.
Joke DehoorneDepartment of Paediatric Rheumatology, University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.
Rik JoosDepartment of Paediatric Rheumatology, University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.
Hilde JansensDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium.
Arvid SulsCenter of Medical Genetics, University of Antwerp/Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium.
Pierre Van DammeCentre for the Evaluation of Vaccination (CEV), Vaccine & Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Kris LaukensAUDACIS, Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Geert MortierCenter of Medical Genetics, University of Antwerp/Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium.
Pieter MeysmanAUDACIS, Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Benson OgunjimiAUDACIS, Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. benson.ogunjimi@uantwerpen.be.
University of Antwerp · BEGhent University Hospital · BEAntwerp University Hospital · BEAZ Turnhout · BEGZA Ziekenhuizen Campus Sint-Augustinus · BECliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc · BEJessa Hospital · BEUCLouvain · BEVlaamse Vereniging voor Obstetrie en Gynaecolo · BEZiekenhuisnetwerk Antwerpen Stuivenberg · BE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMeningitis can be caused by several viruses and bacteria. Identifying the causative pathogen as quickly as possible is crucial to initiate the most optimal therapy, as acute bacterial meningitis is associated with a significant morbidity and mortality. Bacterial meningitis requires antibiotics, as opposed to enteroviral meningitis, which only requires supportive therapy. Clinical presentation is usually not sufficient to differentiate between viral and bacterial meningitis, thereby necessitating cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis by PCR and/or time-consuming bacterial cultures. However, collecting CSF in children is not always feasible and a rather invasive procedure.

methodsIn 12 Belgian hospitals, we obtained acute blood samples from children with signs of meningitis (49 viral and 7 bacterial cases) (aged between 3 months and 16 years). After pathogen confirmation on CSF, the patient was asked to give a convalescent sample after recovery. 3' mRNA sequencing was performed to determine differentially expressed genes (DEGs) to create a host transcriptomic profile.

resultsEnteroviral meningitis cases displayed the largest upregulated fold change enrichment in type I interferon production, response and signaling pathways. Patients with bacterial meningitis showed a significant upregulation of genes related to macrophage and neutrophil activation. We found several significantly DEGs between enteroviral and bacterial meningitis. Random forest classification showed that we were able to differentiate enteroviral from bacterial meningitis with an AUC of 0.982 on held-out samples.

conclusionsEnteroviral meningitis has an innate immunity signature with type 1 interferons as key players. Our classifier, based on blood host transcriptomic profiles of different meningitis cases, is a possible strong alternative for diagnosing enteroviral meningitis.

Indexed as

Spinal PunctureAdolescentChildChild, PreschoolEnterovirus InfectionsGene Expression RegulationGene OntologyHumansInfantMeningitis, BacterialMeningitis, ViralROC CurveTranscriptomeBacterial meningitisDifferential gene expressionEnterovirusMeningitis

Identifiers

PMID31443725
PMCPMC6708255
OpenAlexW2969535135

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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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.