Abstract
More than a year after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, the need still exists for accurate, rapid, inexpensive and non-invasive diagnostic methods that yield high specificity and sensitivity towards the current and newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 strains. Compared to the nasopharyngeal swabs, several studies have established saliva as a more amenable specimen type for early detection of SARS-CoV-2. Considering the limitations and high demand for COVID-19 testing, we employed MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry in the analysis of 60 gargle samples from human donors and compared the resultant spectra against COVID-19 status. Several standards, including isolated human serum immunoglobulins, and controls, such as pre-COVID-19 saliva and heat inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virus, were simultaneously analyzed to provide a relative view of the saliva and viral proteome as they would appear in this workflow. Five potential biomarker peaks were established that demonstrated high concordance with COVID-19 positive individuals. Overall, the agreement of these results with RT-qPCR testing on nasopharyngeal swabs was ≥90% for the studied cohort, which consisted of young and largely asymptomatic student athletes. From a clinical standpoint, the results from this pilot study suggest that MALDI-ToF could be used to develop a relatively rapid and inexpensive COVID-19 assay.
【저자키워드】 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, Coronavirus disease 2019, CT, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, Emergency use authorization, Spike protein, nucleocapsid protein, Receptor binding domain, Food and Drug Administration, RT-qPCR, Immunoglobulin G, cycle threshold, nasopharyngeal, membrane protein, limit of detection, envelope protein, immunoglobulin A, LC-MS, Reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction, immunoglobulin M, Ribonucleic acid, receiver operating characteristic, COVID-19coronavirus disease 2019, SARS-CoV-2severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, WHOWorld Health Organization, World Health Organization, RBDReceptor Binding Domain, FDAFood and Drug Administration, RNARibonucleic acid, ACE2angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, EUAemergency use authorization, IgGimmunoglobulin G, AUCarea under the curve, area under the curve, DTTdithiothreitol, dithiothreitol, E Proteinenvelope protein, IgAimmunoglobulin A, IgMimmunoglobulin M, LoDlimit of detection, liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, M Proteinmembrane protein, MALDI-ToF MSmatrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry, N Proteinnucleocapsid protein, NPnasopharyngeal, ROCreceiver operating characteristic, S Proteinspike protein, VEPviral envelope protein, viral envelope protein, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Saliva, Biomarker, COVID-19 pandemic, immunoglobulins, SARS-CoV-2 virus, Nasopharyngeal swab, sensitivity, specificity, RT-qPCR, Cohort, COVID-19 testing, Concordance, Asymptomatic, nasopharyngeal swabs, proteome, human serum, inactivated, Diagnostic method, Analysis, Non-invasive, pilot study, specimen, limitation, SARS-CoV-2 strains, positive individuals, controls, analyzed, develop, demonstrated, human donor, with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19, diagnostic, Protein, platform,