WarmStart colorimetric RT‐LAMP for the rapid, sensitive and specific detection of Enteroviruses <i>A–D</i> targeting the 5′UTR region
Μαρία Δάσκου, Tilemachos G. Dimitriou, D.S. Alexopoulou, D. Tsakogiannis, Grigoris D. Amoutzias, Dimitris Mossialos, Zaharoula Kyriakopoulou, Panayotis Markoulatos
Abstract
AIMS: The aim of the present study was to develop a colorimetric LAMP assay for the detection of enteroviruses belonging to species A-D targeting the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) of enteroviruses genome. METHODS AND RESULTS: . The assay demonstrated high specificity and sensitivity for the detection of 45 reference strains of Enteroviruses A-D and validated on 20 clinical isolates. CONCLUSIONS: This assay can be used as a diagnostic tool for the rapid, sensitive and specific detection of enteroviruses, easily implemented in small clinical and research laboratories since LAMP amplicons were visualized by colour changes eliminating the requirement for post-amplification processing steps. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: We developed a colorimetric assay ideal for field situations for the detection of enteroviruses, by targeting the 5' UTR. This assay demonstrated high specificity and sensitivity, based on its performance on 45 EV A-D reference strains, on 20 EV B clinical isolates and on three non-enteroviral RNA viruses.