A point-of-care platform for hair loss-related single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping

Rapid genotyping of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) is crucial for prognostics and disease management, enabling more rapid therapy selection and treatment determination. Here, we introduce a point-of-care platform for hair loss-related SNP genotyping based on allele-specific loop-mediated isothermal amplification (AS-LAMP) combined with naked-eye visualization. The specificity of the AS-LAMP assay was significantly enhanced by using mismatched allele-specific primers. AS-LAMP reaction and Schiff's reagent-based colorimetric detection were successfully performed using a thermoplastic genotyping chip. This strategy also showed potential for determining homozygotes and heterozygotes in a target sample. To assess SNP genotyping capacity, the genotyping chip was fabricated to visually detect rs6152 polymorphism of an androgen receptor gene associated with genetically induced hair loss. The genotyping platform rapidly identified the SNP within 40 min, and the detection limit was as low as 1 pg/μL of the target DNA contained in human serum. The introduced strategy showed high specificity and stability in discriminating low-abundance mutations, making it suitable as a portable and affordable point-of-care platform for rapid and accurate SNP discrimination applicable for bedside detection.