Serological assays and host antibody detection in coronavirus-related disease diagnosis

Abstract

Coronaviruses (CoV) are a family of viral pathogens that infect both birds and mammals, including humans. Seven human coronaviruses (HCoV) have been recognized so far. HCoV-229E, -OC43, -NL63, and -HKU1 account for one-third of common colds with mild symptoms. The other three members are severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2. These viruses are responsible for SARS, MERS, and CoV disease 2019 (COVID-19), respectively. A variety of diagnostic techniques, including chest X-rays, computer tomography (CT) scans, analysis of viral nucleic acids, proteins, or whole virions, and host antibody detection using serological assays have been developed for the detection of these viruses. In this review, we discuss conventional serological tests, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), western blot (WB), immunofluorescence assay (IFA), lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA), and chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA), as well as biosensor-based assays that have been developed for diagnosing HCoV-associated diseases since 2003, with an in-depth focus on COVID-19.

ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL SARS-CoV-2 VIRUS N GENE INTEGRATION INTO HUMAN GENOME REVEALS NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON RT-qPCR COVID-19 DIAGNOSTIC TESTING

“…SARS Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an enveloped positive strand RNA virus that belongs to the beta Coronavirus family together with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS) and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS) [1]. Other members of the Coronavirus family that infect humans include HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43 (alpha coronaviruses), HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-HKU1 (beta coronaviruses) and are the cause of mild respiratory tract infections associated with symptoms of the 'common cold' [2]. SARS-CoV-2 is the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19), a contagious respiratory illness characterized by a wide range of symptoms the severity of which ranges from complete asymptomatic disease course to acute respiratory pathologies requiring mechanical ventilation, and in some cases causing death.…”

Current diagnostic approaches to detect two important betacoronaviruses: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

“…These methods can be generally divided into three main categories, which refer to clinical diagnosis, laboratory diagnosis, and radiological diagnosis ( Table 1 ) [16] , [17] , [18] . Laboratory diagnosis can be further sub-divided into nucleic acid-based detection, protein-based detection, or viral culture to confirm the virus infections [16] , [17] , [18] , [28] .

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“…Generally, laboratory tests that could be employed to detect MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 can be divided into the nucleic acid-based test, protein-based test, or viral culture, and each of these tests has its own advantages and limitations ( Table 1 ). Nucleic acid-based detection methods which have been reported in detecting these coronaviruses include polymerase chain reaction (PCR), loop-mediated isothermal amplification methods (LAMP), next-generation sequencing (NGS), CRISPR/Cas-based detection test, and some other tests [16] , [17] , [18] , [28] . Protein-based tests which could be used to detect MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 infections comprise viral serology and antigen tests ( Fig.…”

“…Protein-based tests which could be used to detect MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 infections comprise viral serology and antigen tests ( Fig. 1 ) [16] , [17] , [18] , [28] …”

“…Since the start of the MERS-CoV outbreak, an ELISA screening test that used recombinant N and S proteins had been introduced to detect the presence of antibodies specific against the N and S proteins of MERS-CoV [28] , [200] . Both N and S proteins are highly immunogenic, especially S1 protein is a typical antigen that was used to explore the phylogenetic relationships of coronavirus and epidemiology of MERS-CoV infection [3] .…”