Rapid and extraction-free detection of SARS-CoV-2 from saliva with colorimetric LAMP.

ABSTRACT: Rapid, reliable, and widespread testing is required to curtail the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Current gold standard diagnostic assays are hampered by supply shortages in critical reagents including nasal swabs, RNA extraction kits, personal protective equipment (PPE), instrumentation, and labor. Here we present an approach to overcome these challenges with the development of a rapid colorimetric assay using reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) optimized on human saliva samples without an RNA purification step. We describe our optimizations of the LAMP reaction and saliva pre-treatment protocols that enabled rapid and sensitive detection of < 10^2 viral genomes per reaction in contrived saliva controls. We also observed high performance of this assay on a limited number of clinical saliva samples. While thorough validation on additional clinical samples are needed before such an assay can be widely used, these preliminary results demonstrate a promising approach to overcome the current bottlenecks limiting widespread testing.

SUBMITTER: Lalli MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7273276 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature