Infection and Drug Resistance (Feb 2022)

Clinical Comparative Evaluation of the LabTurboTM AIO® Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction and World Health Organization-Recommended Assays for the Detection of Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern

  • Chang CK,
  • Jian MJ,
  • Chung HY,
  • Lin JC,
  • Hsieh SS,
  • Tang S,
  • Perng CL,
  • Chen CW,
  • Hung KS,
  • Chang FY,
  • Shang HS

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 15
pp. 595 – 603

Abstract

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Chih-Kai Chang,1,* Ming-Jr Jian,1,* Hsing-Yi Chung,1 Jung-Chung Lin,2 Shan-Shan Hsieh,1 Sheng‐Hui Tang,1 Cherng-Lih Perng,1 Chien-Wen Chen,3 Kuo-Sheng Hung,4 Feng-Yee Chang,2 Hung-Sheng Shang1 1Division of Clinical Pathology, Department of Pathology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 2Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Department of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 3Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 4Center for Precision Medicine and Genomics, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Hung-Sheng Shang; Feng-Yee Chang, Tel +886920713130, Fax +886287927226, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent behind coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Single-plex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based assays are widely used for COVID-19 detection but exhibit decreased sensitivity and specificity in detecting the rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 variants; in contrast, multiplex RT-PCR reportedly yields better results. Here, we aimed at comparatively analyzing the clinical performance of the LabTurboTM AIO COVID-19 RNA testing kit, a multiplex quantitative RT-PCR kit, including a three-target (E, N1, and RNase P), single-reaction, triplex assay used for SARS-CoV-2 detection, with that of the WHO-recommended RT-PCR assay.Materials and Methods: Residual, natural, nasopharyngeal swabs obtained from universal transport medium specimens at SARS-CoV-2 testing centers (n = 414) were collected from May to October 2021. For SARS-CoV-2 qRT-PCR, total viral nucleic acid was extracted. The limit of detection (LOD) and the comparative clinical performances of the LabTurboTM AIO COVID-19 RNA kit and the WHO-recommended RT-PCR assay were assessed. Statistical analysis of the correlation was performed and results with R2 values > 0.9 were considered to be highly correlated.Results: The LOD of the LabTurboTM AIO COVID-19 RNA kit was 9.4 copies/reaction for the target genes N1 and E. The results obtained from 102 SARS-CoV-2-positive and 312 SARS-CoV-2-negative samples showed 100% correlation with previous WHO-recommended RT-PCR assay results.Conclusion: Multiplex qRT-PCR is a critical tool for detecting unknown pathogens and employs multiple target genes. The LabTurboTM AIO COVID-19 RNA testing kit provides an effective and efficient assay for SARS-CoV-2 detection and is highly compatible with SARS-CoV-2 variants.Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, variants of concern, COVID-19 RNA testing kit, multiplex qRT-PCR

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