Piecewise Isothermal Nucleic Acid Testing (PINAT) for Infectious Disease Detection with Sample-to-Result Integration at the Point-of-Care.
ACS Sens 2021;
6:3753-3764. [PMID:
34582171 DOI:
10.1021/acssensors.1c01573]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
We developed a piecewise isothermal nucleic acid test (PINAT) as a platform technology for diagnosing pathogen-associated infections, empowered by an illustrative novel methodology that embeds an exclusive DNA-mediated specific probing reaction with the backbone of an isothermal reverse transcription cum amplification protocol for detecting viral RNA. In a point-of-care format, this test is executable in a unified single-step, single-chamber procedure, leading to seamless sample-to-result integration in an inexpensive, scalable, pre-programmable, and customizable portable device, with mobile-app-integrated interpretation and analytics involving minimal manually operative procedures. The test exhibited a high sensitivity and specificity of detection when assessed using 200 double-blind patient samples for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and subsequently using 170 double-blind patient samples in a point-of-care format outside controlled laboratory settings as performed by unskilled technicians in an organized clinical trial. We also established its efficacy in detecting Influenza A infection by performing the diagnosis at the point of collection with uncompromised detection rigor. The envisaged trade-off between advanced laboratory-based molecular diagnostic procedures and the elegance of common rapid tests renders the method ideal for deployment in resource-limited settings towards catering the needs of the underserved.
Collapse