Miniaturized devices for point of care molecular detection of HIV

The HIV pandemic affects 36.7 million people worldwide, predominantly in resource-poor settings. Nucleic acid-based molecular detection of HIV plays a significant role in antiretroviral treatment monitoring for HIV patients, as well as diagnosis of HIV infection in infants. Currently available molecular diagnostic methods are complex, time-consuming and relatively expensive, thus limiting their use in resource-poor settings. Recent advances in microfluidics technology have made possible low-cost integrated miniaturized devices for molecular detection and quantification of HIV at the point of care. We review recent technical advances in molecular testing of HIV using microfluidic technology, with a focus on assays based on isothermal nucleic acid amplification. Microfluidic components for sample preparation, isothermal amplification and result detection are discussed and compared. We also discuss the challenges and future directions for developing an integrated "sample-to-result" microfluidic platform for HIV molecular detection.