Fluorescence spectrophotometry for COVID-19 determination in clinical swab samples

Kartika A. Madurani, Suprapto, Muhammad Yudha Syahputra, Ika Puspita, Abdul Hadi Furqoni, Listya Puspasari, Hafildatur Rosyidah, Agus Muhamad Hatta, Juniastuti, Maria Inge Lusida, Masato Tominaga, Fredy Kurniawan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Considering the limitations of the assays currently available for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its emerging variants, a simple and rapid method using fluorescence spectrophotometry was developed to detect coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Forty clinical swab samples were collected from the nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal cavities of COVID-19-positive and -negative. Each sample was divided into two parts. The first part of the samples was analyzed using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) as the control method to identify COVID-19-positive and -negative samples. The second part of the samples was analyzed using fluorescence spectrophotometry. Fluorescence measurements were performed at excitation and emission wavelengths ranging from 200 to 800 nm. Twenty COVID-19-positive samples and twenty COVID-19-negative samples were detected based on RT-qPCR results. The fluorescence spectrum data indicated that the COVID-19-positive and -negative samples had significantly different characteristics. All positive samples could be distinguished from negative samples by fluorescence spectrophotometry. Principal component analysis showed that COVID-19-positive samples were clustered separately from COVID-19-negative samples. The specificity and accuracy of this experiment reached 100%. Limit of detection (LOD) obtained 42.20 copies/ml (Ct value of 33.65 cycles) for E gene and 63.60 copies/ml (Ct value of 31.36 cycles) for ORF1ab gene. This identification process only required 4 min. Thus, this technique offers an efficient and accurate method to identify an individual with active SARS-CoV-2 infection and can be easily adapted for the early investigation of COVID-19, in general.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104020
JournalArabian Journal of Chemistry
Volume15
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2022

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Emission
  • Excitation
  • Fast analysis
  • Fluorescence spectroscopy
  • SARS-CoV-2

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