Doc Wire News Researchers in Turkey have developed a new kind of paper-based test for COVID-19 that uses aptamer “cocktails,” special short strands of DNA or RNA that can bind tightly and specifically to parts of the virus. This test is designed to detect two key proteins from the SARS-CoV-2 virus: the spike (S) protein and the nucleocapsid (N) protein, both of which are commonly targeted in COVID-19 diagnostics.
Unlike many existing tests that use a single aptamer or combine one aptamer with an antibody, in this study, published in BMC Infectious Diseases, researchers created a multipleaptamer cocktail-based lateral flow assay (mACLFA). Essentially, it’s a test strip similar to a home pregnancy test that can detect the virus with the naked eye using gold nanoparticles that make positive results visible as colored lines.
The researchers tested several models of this new assay. Among them, Model 2 performed best, detecting the virus with 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity—meaning that it correctly identified all positive and negative samples. Other models also performed well, but some had issues with nonspecific results, meaning they might sometimes show a false positive.