Simple, rapid, inexpensive platform for the diagnosis of malaria by loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)

We attempted to improve the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method for malaria diagnosis by using a simple DNA extraction procedure, and a portable device performing both the amplification and detection of LAMP in one platform. Additionally, the device served as a heating block for the DNA preparation. We refer this method as LAMP-Tube scanner, and evaluated using 209 microscopically positive malaria samples and compared them to RDTs and LAMP-Thermocycler. Two most common human infecting Plasmodium species were detected. The LAMP-Tube scanner method is found to be simple and allowed real-time detection of DNA amplification. The time to amplification varied but was closely less than 60 min. Sensitivity and specificity of LAMP-Tube scanner in detecting Plasmodium falciparum were 95% and 93.3%, compared to microscopy and 98.3% and 100% respectively, compared to standard LAMP-Thermocycler. In addition, it showed a detection limit of 10 and 40 copies of the parasitemia for Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum. Accordingly, in comparison to the results obtained by microscopy, the LAMP-Tube scanner had a less divergence in sensitivity and specificity, and yielded results similar to those of LAMP-Thermocycler. This method has the great potential as a field usable molecular tool for the diagnosis of malaria and is an alternative to conventional PCR-based diagnostic methods for field use.