2023-02-27 カリフォルニア工科大学(Caltech)
この研究は、応用・計算数学および生物工学の教授で、生物学および生物工学の執行役員であるNiles Pierce氏の研究室で行われ、ACS Infectious Diseases誌の論文に記載されています。
<関連情報>
- https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/at-home-rapid-covid-test-sensitivity
- https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsinfecdis.2c00472
増幅器不要の家庭用SARS-CoV-2検査用ハイブリダイゼーション連鎖反応ラテラルフローアッセイ Hybridization Chain Reaction Lateral Flow Assays for Amplified Instrument-Free At-Home SARS-CoV-2 Testing
Samuel J. Schulte, Jining Huang, and Niles A. Pierce
ACS Infectious Diseases Published:February 3, 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsinfecdis.2c00472
Abstract
The lateral flow assay format enables rapid, instrument-free, at-home testing for SARS-CoV-2. Due to the absence of signal amplification, this simplicity comes at a cost in sensitivity. Here, we enhance sensitivity by developing an amplified lateral flow assay that incorporates isothermal, enzyme-free signal amplification based on the mechanism of hybridization chain reaction (HCR). The simplicity of the user experience is maintained using a disposable 3-channel lateral flow device to automatically deliver reagents to the test region in three successive stages without user interaction. To perform a test, the user loads the sample, closes the device, and reads the result by eye after 60 min. Detecting gamma-irradiated SARS-CoV-2 virions in a mixture of saliva and extraction buffer, the current amplified HCR lateral flow assay achieves a limit of detection of 200 copies/μL using available antibodies to target the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein. By comparison, five commercial unamplified lateral flow assays that use proprietary antibodies exhibit limits of detection of 500 copies/μL, 1000 copies/μL, 2000 copies/μL, 2000 copies/μL, and 20,000 copies/μL. By swapping out antibody probes to target different pathogens, amplified HCR lateral flow assays offer a platform for simple, rapid, and sensitive at-home testing for infectious diseases. As an alternative to viral protein detection, we further introduce an HCR lateral flow assay for viral RNA detection.
