Multiplexed rolling circle amplification detection of Ebola, Zika and Dengue towards point-of-care diagnostics

• Emerging tropical viruses have caused serious outbreaks during the recent years, such as Ebola virus (EBOV) in 2014 and the most recent 2018-19 outbreak in Congo. Immediate diagnostic attention is demanded, and most importantly at the point-of-care in resource-limited settings. The performance and the operational parameters of conventional EBOV testing are limited by either their sensitivity, specificity, or both, and often do not cover other tropical disease viruses. We present a padlock probe (PLP)-based rolling circle amplification (RCA) method for the detection of EBOV from cell culture isolates as well as clinical samples obtained from patients of West Africa outbreak. For this, a set of PLPs, separately targeting the vRNA and cRNA of all the seven genes of EBOV, were used in the RCA and validated on virus isolates from cell culture. The assay was then translated for testing clinical samples, and simultaneous duplex detection of both EBOV vRNA and cRNA was demonstrated. For increased sensitivity, the RCA products were enriched on a simple and pump-free microfluidic chip. As PLPs and RCA are inherently mulitplexable, we demonstrate the extension of the probe panel to the simultaneous detection of the tropical viruses Ebola, Zika and Dengue. The simple, rapid, specific and multiplexable isothermal assay developed for tropical virus detection suits the point-of-care needs, bringing RCA a step closer to bedside diagnostics.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Biokemi och molekylärbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Molecular diagnostics

Infectious diseases

Tropical virus

Ebola virus disease

RCA

Membrane enrichment

Biochemistry

biokemi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)