Evolution of the newest diagnostic methods for COVID-19: a Chinese perspective

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has continued to spread globally since late 2019, representing a formidable challenge to the world's healthcare systems, wreaking havoc, and spreading rapidly through human contact. With fever, fatigue, and a persistent dry cough being the hallmark symptoms, this disease threatened to destabilize the delicate balance of our global community. Rapid and accurate diagnosis of COVID-19 is a prerequisite for understanding the number of confirmed cases in the world or a region, and an important factor in epidemic assessment and the development of control measures. It also plays a crucial role in ensuring that patients receive the appropriate medical treatment, leading to optimal patient care. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technology is currently the most mature method for detecting viral nucleic acids, but it has many drawbacks. Meanwhile, a variety of COVID-19 detection methods, including molecular biological diagnostic, immunodiagnostic, imaging, and artificial intelligence methods have been developed and applied in clinical practice to meet diverse scenarios and needs. These methods can help clinicians diagnose and treat COVID-19 patients. This review describes the variety of such methods used in China, providing an important reference in the field of the clinical diagnosis of COVID-19.

Keywords: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Diagnosis; Immunoassay; Polymerase chain reaction (PCR); Radiography; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Fig. 1. Schematics of common COVID-19 detection techniques. COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019; RT-qPCR: reverse transcription-quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction; cDNA: complementary DNA; ORF: open reading frames; RT-LAMP: reverse transcription-loop-mediated isothermal amplification; CRISPR: clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats; Cas12a: CRISPR-associated (Cas) protein 12a system; gRNA: guide RNA; PAM: protospacer adjacent motif; Neg.: negative; Pos.: positive; Ctrl.: control; ALT: alanine aminotransferase; AST: aspartate aminotransferase; BIL: bilirubin; ALB: albnmin; Ig: immunoglobulin.