Rapid laboratory diagnosis for respiratory infectious diseases by using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.

It is still challenging to prevent and treat respiratory infectious diseases. One critical step in the successful treatment of respiratory infections is rapid diagnosis by identifying the causative microorganisms in a timely fashion. However, traditional methods for identification of causative agents could not satisfy the need for rapid and accurate testing due to the limitations of technology-used. In recent years, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) has been validated and used for rapid identification of microorganism and for potential discovery of diseases associated biomarkers. We reviewed recent advances of MALDI-TOF-MS as the laboratory diagnostic tool for the rapid laboratory diagnosis of microorganisms associated with respiratory infectious diseases, with the focus on rapid identification of pathogenic bacteria and molecular markers discovery using MALDI-TOF-MS. With the advanced technologies such as MALDI-TOF, early and targeted therapies based on rapid identification of pathogens and could lead to quick and effective treatment of respiratory infections and better patient management.