Pre-enriched saline gargle samples for detection of SARS-CoV-2

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Infectious Disease Diagnostics
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Self-collected gargle samples offer a less invasive alternative for SARS-CoV-2 detection, reducing reliance on medical resources.
• Current methods using oropharyngeal swabs (OPS), nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS), and saline gargle (SG) samples have limitations in sensitivity due to incomplete material usage.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a bead-based pre-enrichment strategy for enhancing the sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 detection in saline gargle samples.
• To compare the performance of the pre-enrichment strategy with standard OPS sampling.

Main Methods:

• A bead-based strategy was employed to pre-enrich starting materials from saline gargle (SG) samples.
• The pre-enriched saline gargle (PenSG) samples were analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 detection.
• Validation was performed using 100 paired PenSG and OPS samples, and 89 PenSG samples from healthy volunteers.

Main Results:

• The bead-based pre-enrichment strategy acquired approximately 20 times more starting material compared to OPS samples.
• The strategy demonstrated comparable sensitivity and specificity to OPS for SARS-CoV-2 detection.
• The method was successfully validated in clinical samples.

Conclusions:

• The bead-based pre-enrichment of SG samples is a highly effective strategy for improving SARS-CoV-2 detection sensitivity.
• This approach offers a promising alternative for clinical diagnostics, potentially applicable to other diseases.
• The method enhances sample material utilization, addressing a key limitation in current gargle-based testing.