PCR-like performance of rapid test with permselective tunable nanotrap
Seong Jun Park, Seungmin Lee, Dongtak Lee, Na Eun Lee, Jeong‐Soo Park, Ji Hye Hong, Jae Won Jang, Hyunji Kim, Seokbeom Roh, Gyudo Lee, Dong‐Ho Lee, Sung‐Yeon Cho, Chulmin Park, Dong‐Gun Lee, Raeseok Lee, Dukhee Nho, Dae Sung Yoon, Yong Kyoung Yoo, Jeong Hoon Lee
Abstract
Abstract Highly sensitive rapid testing for COVID-19 is essential for minimizing virus transmission, especially before the onset of symptoms and in asymptomatic cases. Here, we report bioengineered enrichment tools for lateral flow assays (LFAs) with enhanced sensitivity and specificity (BEETLES 2 ), achieving enrichment of SARS-CoV-2 viruses, nucleocapsid (N) proteins and immunoglobulin G (IgG) with 3-minute operation. The limit of detection is improved up to 20-fold. We apply this method to clinical samples, including 83% with either intermediate (35%) or low viral loads (48%), collected from 62 individuals ( n = 42 for positive and n = 20 for healthy controls). We observe diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 88.1%, 100%, and 91.9%, respectively, compared with commercial LFAs alone achieving 14.29%, 100%, and 41.94%, respectively. BEETLES 2 , with permselectivity and tunability, can enrich the SARS-CoV-2 virus, N proteins, and IgG in the nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swab, saliva, and blood serum, enabling reliable and sensitive point-of-care testing, facilitating fast early diagnosis.