Validation of Dried Saliva for Molecular Diagnostics

Area of Science:

• Point-of-care diagnostics
• Virology
• Biomaterials

Background:

• Nasopharyngeal swabs were standard for COVID-19 diagnostics but invasive.
• Anterior nasal fluid and saliva offered less discomfort but lacked standardized collection methods.
• Saliva's complexity and variability hindered its widespread use in diagnostics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To standardize saliva sampling for viral diagnostics using repurposed FishburneTabs.
• To develop a reliable method for collecting and processing dried saliva samples.
• To assess the performance of dried saliva collected on FishburneTabs compared to liquid saliva.

Main Methods:

• Repurposed FishburneTabs, originally for dry mouth diagnosis, for saliva collection.
• Developed a workflow for drying saliva on tabs, aligning with dried blood spot processing.
• Utilized a standard hole punch for sample acquisition from dried tabs for analysis.

Main Results:

• FishburneTabs reliably collected viral RNA and facilitated long-term storage.
• Dried saliva samples achieved 92% accuracy compared to paired liquid saliva samples.
• Clinical validation with 125 samples showed 85% sensitivity and 94% specificity for dried saliva.

Conclusions:

• FishburneTabs offer a standardized method for self-collection of dried saliva for viral diagnostics.
• This approach supports decentralized testing for upper respiratory viral infections.
• Dried saliva on FishburneTabs demonstrates comparable performance to liquid saliva, enhancing accessibility.