SERS Based Lateral Flow Immunoassay for Point-of-Care Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Clinical Samples

Abstract

The current scenario, an ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, places a dreadful burden on the healthcare system worldwide. Subsequently, there is a need for a rapid, user-friendly, and inexpensive on-site monitoring system for diagnosis. The early and rapid diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 plays an important role in combating the outbreak. Although conventional methods such as PCR, RT-PCR, and ELISA, etc., offer a gold-standard solution to manage the pandemic, they cannot be implemented as a point-of-care (POC) testing arrangement. Moreover, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) having a high enhancement factor provides quantitative results with high specificity, sensitivity, and multiplex detection ability but lacks in POC setup. In contrast, POC devices such as lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) offer rapid, simple-to-use, cost-effective, reliable platform. However, LFIA has limitations in quantitative and sensitive analyses of SARS-CoV-2 detection. To resolve these concerns, herein we discuss a unique modality that is an integration of SERS with LFIA for quantitative analyses of SARS-CoV-2. The miniaturization ability of SERS-based devices makes them promising in biosensor application and has the potential to make a better alternative of conventional diagnostic methods. This review also demonstrates the commercially available and FDA/ICMR approved LFIA kits for on-site diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2.

Mix-and-read, one-minute SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic assay: development of PIFE-based aptasensor

“…13,14 LFA format can be coupled with alternative detecting methods such as surface-enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) to lead to enhanced performance, but detecting SERS requires the use of advanced, specialized and costly equipment. 15,16 To overcome these limitations, development of simple yet accurate assay formats is in urgent need. Distance-dependent, liquid-platform fluorescence enhancement technology such as FRET (Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer) or PIFE (protein-induced fluorescence enhancement) offers a promising alternative.…”

AuNP Coupled Rapid Flow-Through Dot-Blot Immuno-Assay for Enhanced Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Specific Nucleocapsid and Receptor Binding Domain IgG

“…27,28 Other techniques like surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), microfluidic immune-fluorescence assay, chromatographic digital immunoassays are evolving. [47][48][49] However, the flowthrough dot-blot-based approach is not yet widely available as COVID-19 immunoassay. This work includes developing and evaluating a rapid flow-through dot-blot assay (FT-DBA) to detect SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG in human serum.…”

Development and Efficacy of Lateral Flow Point-of-Care Testing Devices for Rapid and Mass COVID-19 Diagnosis by the Detections of SARS-CoV-2 Antigen and Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies

“…Besides qRT-PCR and ELISA, recent advances have been made with detection using strip-based tests because they are cheap and effective to use with many people. One of the most popularly used techniques is lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA), also known as lateral flow assay (LFA) or lateral flow tests (LFT), which can be used either alone or in a combination with other techniques to get better and more reliable results [79,80].…”