Augustine Robin, Hasan Anwarul, Das Suvarthi, Ahmed Rashid, Mori Yasuyoshi, Notomi Tsugunori, Kevadiya Bhavesh D, Thakor Avnesh S
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar.
Biomedical Research Center (BRC), Qatar University, Doha PO Box 2713, Qatar.
Biology (Basel). 2020 Jul 22;9(8):182. doi: 10.3390/biology9080182.
The rampant spread of COVID-19 and the worldwide prevalence of infected cases demand a rapid, simple, and cost-effective Point of Care Test (PoCT) for the accurate diagnosis of this pandemic. The most common molecular tests approved by regulatory bodies across the world for COVID-19 diagnosis are based on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). While PCR-based tests are highly sensitive, specific, and remarkably reliable, they have many limitations ranging from the requirement of sophisticated laboratories, need of skilled personnel, use of complex protocol, long wait times for results, and an overall high cost per test. These limitations have inspired researchers to search for alternative diagnostic methods that are fast, economical, and executable in low-resource laboratory settings. The discovery of Loop-mediated isothermal Amplification (LAMP) has provided a reliable substitute platform for the accurate detection of low copy number nucleic acids in the diagnosis of several viral diseases, including epidemics like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). At present, a cocktail of LAMP assay reagents along with reverse transcriptase enzyme (Reverse Transcription LAMP, RT-LAMP) can be a robust solution for the rapid and cost-effective diagnosis for COVID-19, particularly in developing, and low-income countries. In summary, the development of RT-LAMP based diagnostic tools in a paper/strip format or the integration of this method into a microfluidic platform such as a Lab-on-a-chip may revolutionize the concept of PoCT for COVID-19 diagnosis. This review discusses the principle, technology and past research underpinning the success for using this method for diagnosing MERS and SARS, in addition to ongoing research, and the prominent prospect of RT-LAMP in the context of COVID-19 diagnosis.
新冠病毒病（COVID-19）的肆虐传播以及全球感染病例的流行，需要一种快速、简便且经济高效的即时检测（PoCT）方法来准确诊断这一流行病。全球监管机构批准的用于COVID-19诊断的最常见分子检测方法是基于聚合酶链反应（PCR）。虽然基于PCR的检测方法具有高度敏感性、特异性且非常可靠，但它们有许多局限性，包括需要精密实验室、专业技术人员、复杂的操作流程、较长的结果等待时间以及每次检测总体成本较高。这些局限性促使研究人员寻找替代诊断方法，这些方法要快速、经济且能在资源匮乏的实验室环境中实施。环介导等温扩增技术（LAMP）的发现为准确检测多种病毒性疾病（包括严重急性呼吸综合征（SARS）和中东呼吸综合征（MERS）等流行病）中的低拷贝数核酸提供了一个可靠的替代平台。目前，LAMP检测试剂与逆转录酶（逆转录LAMP，RT-LAMP）的组合对于COVID-19的快速且经济高效的诊断可能是一个强有力的解决方案，特别是在发展中国家和低收入国家。总之，开发基于RT-LAMP的纸质/条带形式的诊断工具或将该方法集成到诸如芯片实验室等微流控平台中，可能会彻底改变COVID-19诊断的即时检测概念。本综述讨论了该方法用于诊断MERS和SARS成功的原理、技术和过往研究，以及正在进行的研究，还有RT-LAMP在COVID-19诊断背景下的突出前景。
