Evaluation of the Aptima™ transcription-mediated amplification assay (Hologic®) for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in clinical specimens.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which appeared in late 2019, has been limited by isolating infected individuals. However, identifying such individuals requires accurate diagnostic tools.

Objective

This study evaluates the capacity of the Aptima™ Transcription-Mediated Amplification (TMA) assay (Hologic® Panther System) to detect the virus in clinical samples.

Study design

We compared the Aptima™ assay to two in-house real-time RT-PCR techniques, one running on the Panther Fusion™ module and the other on the MagNA Pure 96 and Light-Cycler 480 instruments. We included a total of 200 respiratory specimens: 100 tested prospectively and 100 retrospectively (25 -ve/75 +ve).

Results

The final Cohen's kappa coefficients were: κ = 0.978 between the Aptima™ and Panther Fusion™ assays, κ = 0.945 between the Aptima™ and MagNA/LC480 assays and κ = 0.956 between the MagNA/LC480 and Panther Fusion™ assays.

Conclusion

These findings indicate that the Aptima™ SARS-CoV-2 TMA assay data agree well with those obtained with our routine methods and that this assay can be used to diagnose coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

SUBMITTER: Tremeaux P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7336924 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature