Sponsored | Employing Immunologic Testing to Expedite Detection and Control the Spread of COVID-19

With over 93 million confirmed infections and 2 million reported deaths by January 2021, the on-going COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the global community deeply. This severe up-respiratory illness is caused by a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus, SARS-CoV-2, which contains a genome of about 30K bp and interacts with the host cell through ACE2 binding via the viral spike protein. So far, to combat this disease, several vaccine candidates have been approved for emergency uses while many experimental medications are been exploited. Besides these efforts, preventive measures, accurate disease diagnostics, and effective contact tracing are still considered fundamental in containing the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

One of the strategies to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 is accurate disease diagnostics at the early stage of infection. Currently, several lab-tests are available for the detection of the SARS-CoV-2. Among the established tests, RT-qPCR and NGS-based tests (nucleic acid tests), are considered as the golden standard for virus identification. However, these tests are not only time consuming and laborious, but they also rely heavily on specialized instrumentation, well-trained personnel, as well as sophisticated laboratory facilities, resulting in their limited availability. On the other hand, the nucleic acid tests are not error-proof since false-negative results are often generated due to reasons such as improper sample handlings and storage conditions, sampling time…. Thus, the development of complementary assay formats is necessary to expand the testing capacities. Immunologic tests are viable options and it has been reported that a combination of nucleic acid and immunologic tests significantly improved the sensitivity of pathogenic diagnosis for COVID-19 as early as during the 1^st week of contracting the disease. These tests either detect the antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 (serological tests) or look for pieces of virus proteins in the serum (antigen tests). Immunologic tests can be performed under common clinic settings and the results are available in the duration of hours, which significantly expedite the diagnostic practices.

To support the development of immunodiagnostic assay, Sino Biological has successfully generated biologically active and stable Spike and NP proteins of SARS-CoV-2. In the meantime, a collection of the S and NP proteins from other coronavirus strains are also available as core components in several commercial Serological diagnostic kits.

Download this whitepaper to discover different testing methods and the impact of COVID-19 variants and antibody cross reactivity.