A novel G-quadruplex aptamer-based spike trimeric antigen test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2
Ankit Gupta, Anjali Anand, Neha Jain, Sandeep Goswami, Anbalagan Anantharaj, Sharanabasava Patil, Rahul Singh, Amit Kumar, Tripti Shrivastava, Shinjini Bhatnagar, Guruprasad R. Medigeshi, Tarun Kumar Sharma
Abstract
, confirming its tight binding to a spike antigen of SARS-CoV-2. S14 can detect as low as 2 nM of antigen. The clinical evaluation of S14 aptamer on nasopharyngeal swab specimens (n = 232) has displayed a highly discriminatory response between SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals from the non-infected one with a sensitivity and specificity of ∼91% and 98%, respectively. Importantly, S14 aptamer-based test has evinced a comparable performance with that of RT-PCR-based assay. Altogether, this study established the utility of aptamer technology for the detection of SARS-CoV-2.