A rapid variant-tolerant reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay for point of care detection of HIV-1

Li, Y. et al. (2021) A rapid variant-tolerant reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay for point of care detection of HIV-1. Analyst, 146(17), pp. 5347-5356. (doi: 10.1039/D1AN00598G) (PMID:34323889)

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to cause a major burden on public health globally with on-going increases in numbers of new infections each year. Rapid and sensitive point-of-care test (POCT) allows timely interventions, essential to control the spread of the AIDS disease, although the highly variable nature of the virus, resulting in the evolution of many subtypes and inter-subtype recombinants, poses important challenges in its diagnosis. Here we describe a variant-tolerant reverse-transcription RT-LAMP amplification of the virus’s INT gene, providing a simple to use, rapid (<30 min) in vitro diagnostic test with a limit of detection <18 copies/reaction. The assay was first validated in clinical studies of patient samples, using both established RT-LAMP and RT-qPCR assays for reference, with results showing that this new variant-tolerant HIV-1 RT-LAMP diagnostic test is highly sensitive without compromising upon its high specificity for the HIV-1 subtypes. The diagnostic test was subsequently configured within an easy-to-read paper microfluidic POC lateral flow test and was validated clinically using patient samples, demonstrating its future potential for use in timely, effective, low costing HIV diagnostic tests in global regions where healthcare resources may be limited.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Xu, Mr Gaolian and Cooper, Professor Jonathan and Reboud, Professor Julien
• Authors: Li, Y., Chen, X., Zhao, Y., Wan, Z., Zeng, Y., Ma, Y., Zhou, L., Xu, G., Reboud, J., Cooper, J. M., and Zhang, C.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering
• Journal Name: Analyst
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• ISSN: 0003-2654
• ISSN (Online): 1364-5528
• Published Online: 02 July 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Royal Society of Chemistry
• First Published: First published in Analyst 146(17): 5347-5356
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
300573		Novel low cost diagnostic tools and their impact in Africa	Jonathan Cooper	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)	EP/R01437X/1	ENG - Biomedical Engineering