Investigation of compatibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 reverse transcriptase-PCR kits containing different gene targets during coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

Figen Sarıgül; Osman Doluca; Sıla Akhan; Murat Sayan

doi:10.2217/fvl-2020-0169

Investigation of compatibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 reverse transcriptase-PCR kits containing different gene targets during coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

Future Virol. 2020 Aug;15(8):515-524. doi: 10.2217/fvl-2020-0169.

Authors

Figen Sarıgül¹, Osman Doluca², Sıla Akhan³, Murat Sayan^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Health Sciences University, Antalya Education & Research Hospital, Infectious Disease & Clinical Microbiology, Antalya, Turkey.
² Izmir University of Economics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Izmir, Turkey.
³ Kocaeli University, Faculty of Medicine, Infectious Disease & Clinical Microbiology, Kocaeli, Turkey.
⁴ Kocaeli University, Faculty of Medicine, Clinical Laboratory, PCR Unit, Kocaeli, Turkey.
⁵ Near East University, DESAM Institute, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus.

Abstract

Aim: In the diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) technique is often used. We evaluated the compatibility of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR kits containing different gene targets during the pandemic.

Materials & methods: Samples were tested by Bio-Speddy^® (RdRp gene) and Diagnovital^® (RdRp + E genes). The correlation between two assays were determined by Deming regression analysis and chi-square analyses.

Results: Diagnovital PCR kit showed amplification in a narrow Ct range and conveniently sharper exponential amplification curves than Bio-Speedy PCR kit. While the correlation between the findings of the two kits was apparent even with single gene target, this correlation increased when a secondary biomarker was added to the correlation calculations.

Conclusion: We have observed high correlation between different PCR kits, however, using different PCR kits during the pandemic may provide a more accurate diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, since despite correlation there are a number of patients showing contradicting diagnosis.

Keywords: COVID-19; RT-PCR; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus.