Screening for Biomarkers of Actinobacteria Associated with Water-Damaged Buildings – Part 1

Abstract

Recent publications 1,2 have presented the view that a wider variety of microbial contaminants are responsible for adverse human health effects in susceptible individuals exposed to the microbial “soup” that results in water-damaged buildings (WDB) than previously ascribed. Those articles presented an in-depth understanding of the expanded use of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to detect the bacterial taxa present in these affected environments. When correlated with data from transcriptomic assays, these studies defined specific causation of innate immune activation by a growing list of microbial colonizers. Specifically, it was reported that a correlation existed between certain Actinobacteria as shown by NGS, with differential gene activation, from a transcriptomic assay (GENIE) detecting a defined clinical response. This review seeks to assess the published literature to find and determine the potential for candidates that could be relied upon to act as a biomarker for Actinobacteria in dust and other samples in order to indicate the likelihood of Actinobacteria dominance or prevalence, sufficient to warrant progression to confirmation by NGS, much like endotoxins are broadly accepted as a biomarker for colonization by broad spectra of Gram-negative bacilli in WDB.