Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Group (e-INTRO), Biomedical Research Institute of Salamanca-Research Centre for Tropical Diseases at the University of Salamanca (IBSAL-CIETUS), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain.
BISITE Research Group, University of Salamanca, Calle Espejo s/n. Edificio Multiusos I+D+i, 37007 Salamanca, Spain.
Biosensors (Basel). 2022 Jun 16;12(6):424. doi: 10.3390/bios12060424.
Nucleic acid amplification diagnostics offer outstanding features of sensitivity and specificity. However, they still lack speed and robustness, require extensive infrastructure, and are neither affordable nor user-friendly. Thus, they have not been extensively applied in point-of-care diagnostics, particularly in low-resource settings. In this work, we have combined the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technology with a handheld portable device (SMART-LAMP) developed to perform real-time isothermal nucleic acid amplification reactions, based on simple colorimetric measurements, all of which are Bluetooth-controlled by a dedicated smartphone app. We have validated its diagnostic utility regarding different infectious diseases, including Schistosomiasis, Strongyloidiasis, and COVID-19, and analyzed clinical samples from suspected COVID-19 patients. Finally, we have proved that the combination of long-term stabilized LAMP master mixes, stored and transported at room temperature with our developed SMART-LAMP device, provides an improvement towards true point-of-care diagnosis of infectious diseases in settings with limited infrastructure. Our proposal could be easily adapted to the diagnosis of other infectious diseases.
核酸扩增诊断具有出色的灵敏度和特异性。然而，它们仍然缺乏速度和稳健性，需要广泛的基础设施，并且既不可负担也不便于用户使用。因此，它们尚未广泛应用于即时诊断领域，特别是在资源有限的环境中。在这项工作中，我们将环介导等温扩增（LAMP）技术与一种手持式便携式设备（SMART-LAMP）相结合，该设备旨在基于简单的比色测量进行实时等温核酸扩增反应，所有这些反应均由专用的智能手机应用程序通过蓝牙进行控制。我们已经验证了它在不同传染病（包括血吸虫病、钩虫病和 COVID-19）方面的诊断效用，并分析了疑似 COVID-19 患者的临床样本。最后，我们证明了长期稳定的 LAMP 主混合物与我们开发的 SMART-LAMP 设备相结合，可在基础设施有限的环境中实现真正的即时传染病诊断，从而得到改善。我们的方案可以轻松应用于其他传染病的诊断。
