Quantitative SARS-CoV-2 subgenomic RNA as a surrogate marker for viral infectivity: Comparison between culture isolation and direct sgRNA quantification

Detection of subgenomic (sg) SARS-CoV-2 RNAs are frequently used as a correlate of viral infectiousness, but few data about correlation between sg load and viable virus are available. Here, we defined concordance between culture isolation and E and N sgRNA quantification by ddPCR assays in 51 nasoph...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one Vol. 18; no. 9; p. e0291120
Main Authors: Scutari, Rossana, Renica, Silvia, Cento, Valeria, Nava, Alice, Sammartino, Josè Camilla, Ferrari, Alessandro, Pani, Arianna, Merli, Marco, Fanti, Diana, Vismara, Chiara, Scaglione, Francesco, Puoti, Massimo, Bandera, Alessandra, Gori, Andrea, Piralla, Antonio, Baldanti, Fausto, Perno, Carlo Federico, Alteri, Claudia
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 01.09.2023
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:
Analysis
Assaying
Asymptomatic
Biology and life sciences
Correlation
COVID-19
Disease susceptibility
Genetic aspects
Infectivity
Medicine and health sciences
Patients
RNA
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Viral diseases
Viruses
Italy
ISSN:1932-6203, 1932-6203
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Detection of subgenomic (sg) SARS-CoV-2 RNAs are frequently used as a correlate of viral infectiousness, but few data about correlation between sg load and viable virus are available. Here, we defined concordance between culture isolation and E and N sgRNA quantification by ddPCR assays in 51 nasopharyngeal swabs collected from SARS-CoV-2 positive hospitalized patients. Among the 51 samples, 14 were SARS-CoV-2 culture-positive and 37 were negative. According to culture results, the sensitivity and specificity of E and N sgRNA assays were 100% and 100%, and 84% and 86%, respectively. ROC analysis showed that the best E and N cut-offs to predict positive culture isolation were 32 and 161 copies/mL respectively, with an AUC (95% CI) of 0.96 (0.91–1.00) and 0.96 (0.92–1.00), and a diagnostic accuracy of 88% and 92%, respectively. Even if no significant correlations were observed between sgRNA amount and clinical presentation, a higher number of moderate/severe cases and lower number of days from symptoms onset characterized patients with sgRNA equal to or higher than sgRNA cut-offs. Overall, this study suggests that SARS-CoV-2 sgRNA quantification could be helpful to estimate the replicative activity of SARS-CoV-2 and can represent a valid surrogate marker to efficiently recognize patients with active infection. The inclusion of this assay in available SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics procedure might help in optimizing fragile patients monitoring and management.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0291120