Indian Council of Medical Research has recently validated the LAMP technology for COVID-19 testing.
What is RT-LAMP?
RT-LAMP stands for Reverse Transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification technology.
Agappe Diagnostics has recently developed the technology indigenously, and their kit has been validated and approved by the ICMR for marketing.
It is named LUME Screen nCoV.
How does it work?
RT-LAMP technology is a one-step nucleic acid amplification method to multiply specific sequences of RNA of the coronavirus.
The RNA is first made into cDNA (copy DNA) by the usual reverse transcription. Then, the DNA is amplified by the LAMP technique.
What are Current methods of testing?
The current method diagnosis is the real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test which detects the presence of viral nucleic acids in nasopharyngeal swab samples.
But it has certain shortcomings.
The test requires complex and costly equipment. It requires extensive training for potential users.
What are benefits of LAMP over RT-PCR?
The LAMP technology is superior to the PCR technology based COVID-19 kits where specificity is around 95% only.
As the specificity and sensitivity of the test is about 95%, there is a possibility of false negative results.
The turnaround time is about 10 hours, so that the result will be available only by the next day.
In remote places, the turnaround time further increases depending on the distance the samples need to travel.
In short, the RT-PCR does not have the capacity to keep pace with the increasing demand.
The LAMP technology does not need laborious preparation as in the case of RT-PCR. LAMP is cost effective and does not need complex expensive equipment.
