COVID-19 z-bo 2020-10-23 606

　　Researchers from the University of Sheffield recently published the results of their evaluation of a new, rapid COVID-19 testing technology. LamPORE is a new diagnostic platform for the detection of SARS-CoV-2RNA. It combines loop-mediated isothermal amplification with nanopore sequencing, and has the potential to analyze thousands of samples per day on one instrument.

　　Although it is preliminary, the results show that LamPORE has a high diagnostic sensitivity, which may mean that a larger test scale can be provided in the future to help control the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

　　Colleagues from the University of Sheffield and Porton Down (PHE), Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Fund and Oxford University evaluated the performance of LamPORE for RT-PCR.

　　The research team used RNA extracted from two samples. The positive clinical specimens were mainly from patients with symptomatic infections, and the diagnostic sensitivity of LamPORE was 99.1% (that is, 226 of the 228 positive RT-PCR samples were positive).

　　Among the negative clinical specimens, including 153 other respiratory pathogens detected, the diagnostic specificity of LamPORE was 99.6% (that is, 278 of 279 were negative by RT-PCR). Overall, 1.4% of the samples produced uncertain results at the first test, and the repeatability of the LamPORE test on the same RNA extract was 96.8%.

　　"These results show that LamPORE has similar diagnostic performance to patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection as RT-PCR."

　　Dr. Suchhan de Silva from the Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Diseases at the University of Sheffield said: "These preliminary but promising data indicate that LamPORE has the potential to expand the type and scale of SARS-CoV-2 testing."

　　Dr. Steve Pullan from Porton Down Public Health England, said: "Our early data indicate that LamPORE is a reliable alternative to PCR-based conventional diagnostic methods, and it may provide further high-throughput detection capabilities."