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Isothermal amplification‐based assays for rapid and sensitive detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2: Opportunities and recent developments
Author(s) -
Maiti Biswajit,
Anupama Karanth Padyana,
Rai Praveen,
Karunasagar Indrani,
Karunasagar Iddya
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
reviews in medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.06
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1099-1654
pISSN - 1052-9276
DOI - 10.1002/rmv.2274
Subject(s) - loop mediated isothermal amplification , virology , covid-19 , coronavirus , gold standard (test) , pandemic , point of care testing , polymerase chain reaction , protocol (science) , real time polymerase chain reaction , diagnostic test , medicine , disease , biology , immunology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , dna , gene , emergency medicine , pathology , genetics , biochemistry , alternative medicine
Summary The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is a global pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). To date, the virus has been detected in 219 countries of the world. Therefore, managing the disease becomes the priority, in which detecting the presence of the virus is a crucial step. Presently, real‐time RT polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR) is considered a gold standard nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). The test protocol of RT‐qPCR is complicated, places high demands on equipment, testing reagents, research personnel skills and is expensive. Therefore, simpler point‐of‐care (POC) tests are needed to accelerate clinical decision‐making and take some of the workload from centralized test laboratories. Various isothermal amplification‐based assays have been developed for the sensitive detection of different microorganisms, and recently some of them have been applied for detection of SARS‐CoV‐2. These do not require any programable thermocycler, can produce the results in a single temperature, and therefore, are considered simple. Unlike RT‐qPCR, these methods are highly sensitive, specific, less time‐consuming, simple and affordable, and can be used as POC diagnostic kit for COVID‐19. In this review, we have discussed the potential of isothermal amplification‐based assays as an alternative to RT‐qPCR for the detection of SARS‐CoV‐2.