Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CRISPR-Cas technology for SARS-CoV-2.
Methods: RT-qPCR is defined as the reference standard. Data was collected and assessed by Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS)-2 tool. A bivariate model for pooling was employed and subgroups analysis was used to explore heterogeneity.
Results: 2264 samples from 28 articles were extracted for evaluating the accuracy of CRISPR technology for diagnosing SARS-CoV-2. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of CRISPR technology were 0.98 (95% CI: 0.95-0.99) and 1.0 (95% CI: 0.98-1.00), respectively. High risks in patient selection bias and unclear risk of index test bias may affect accuracy. Subgroup analysis showed that CRISPR-Cas12 is applicable for molecular diagnostics for its active editing characteristics. RT-LAMP and RT-RPA are usually used for pre-amplification and fluorescence detection to output results quantitatively. Nasopharyngeal swabs and dual-genes perform greatly in our study.
Conclusion: The results concluded from all studies showed that CRISPR technology is a promising molecular method for detecting SARS-CoV-2. Standard methods including comparable sample material, patient selection, operating procedure and operators should be established.
【저자키워드】 Meta-analysis, SARS-CoV-2, Diagnosis, COVID-19 testing, CRISPR cas systems,