Detection of COVID-19: A review of the current literature and future perspectives

• Published in: Biosensors & bioelectronics Vol. 166; p. 112455
• Main Authors: Ji, Tianxing, Liu, Zhenwei, Wang, GuoQiang, Guo, Xuguang, Akbar khan, Shahzad, Lai, Changchun, Chen, Haoyu, Huang, Shiwen, Xia, Shaomei, Chen, Bo, Jia, Hongyun, Chen, Yangchao, Zhou, Qiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 15-10-2020; Published by Elsevier B.V
• Subjects: Antibodies, Viral - isolation & purification; Antigens, Viral - isolation & purification; Betacoronavirus - genetics; Betacoronavirus - immunology; Betacoronavirus - isolation & purification; Biosensing Techniques - instrumentation; Biosensing Techniques - methods; Biosensing Techniques - trends; Clinical Laboratory Techniques - instrumentation; Clinical Laboratory Techniques - methods; Clinical Laboratory Techniques - trends; Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronavirus Infections - virology; COVID-19; COVID-19 Testing; Equipment Design; Genome, Viral; Humans; Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Pneumonia, Viral - virology; Point-of-Care Testing; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Viral - genetics; RNA, Viral - isolation & purification; SARS-CoV-2; Virion - isolation & purification; COVID-19; Point-of-care testing; SARS-CoV-2
• ISSN: 0956-5663; 1873-4235
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2020.112455

The rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide pandemic. This unprecedented situation has garnered worldwide attention. An effective strategy for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic is to develop highly accurate methods for the rapid identification and isolation of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. Many companies and institutes are therefore striving to develop effective methods for the rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleic acid (RNA), antibodies, antigens, and the virus. In this review, we summarize the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, its genome and gene expression characteristics, and the current progression of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, antibodies, antigens, and virus detection. Further, we discuss the reasons for the observed false-negative and false-positive RNA and antibody detection results in practical clinical applications. Finally, we provide a review of the biosensors which hold promising potential for point-of-care detection of COVID-19 patients. This review thereby provides general guidelines for both scientists in the biosensing research community and for those in the biosensor industry to develop a highly sensitive and accurate point-of-care COVID-19 detection system, which would be of enormous benefit for controlling the current COVID-19 pandemic.
•The viral particles structure, genome and gene expression characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 are described.•The current SARS-CoV-2 viral particles, RNA, antigens, and antibody detection methods are reviewed.•The clinical performance and unmet problems associated with SARS-CoV-2 RNA antigen, and antibody detection are highlighted.•Potential biosensors for use in developing point-of-care, rapid, high-sensitivity SARS-CoV-2 detection methods are discussed.