Diagnostic accuracy of CRISPR technology for detecting SARS-CoV-2: a systematic review and meta-analysis

To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CRISPR-Cas technology for SARS-CoV-2.

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.

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.

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.