Viral Culture Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Subgenomic RNA Value as a Good Surrogate Marker of Infectivity

Determining SARS-CoV-2 viral infectivity is crucial for patient clinical assessment and isolation decisions. We assessed subgenomic RNA (sgRNA) as a surrogate marker of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity in SARS-CoV-2-positive reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) respiratory samples (  = 105) in comparison with v...

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Published inJournal of clinical microbiology Vol. 60; no. 1; p. e0160921
Main Authors Santos Bravo, Marta, Berengua, Carla, Marín, Pilar, Esteban, Montserrat, Rodriguez, Cristina, Del Cuerpo, Margarita, Miró, Elisenda, Cuesta, Genoveva, Mosquera, Mar, Sánchez-Palomino, Sonsoles, Vila, Jordi, Rabella, Núria, Marcos, María Ángeles
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Society for Microbiology 19.01.2022
Subjects
Biomarkers
Clinical Microbiology
COVID-19
Humans
Reverse Transcription
RNA
RNA, Viral - genetics
SARS-CoV-2
Virology
COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
viral culture
infectivity
subgenomic RNA
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Summary:Determining SARS-CoV-2 viral infectivity is crucial for patient clinical assessment and isolation decisions. We assessed subgenomic RNA (sgRNA) as a surrogate marker of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity in SARS-CoV-2-positive reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) respiratory samples (  = 105) in comparison with viral culture as the reference standard for virus replication. sgRNA and viral isolation results were concordant in 99/105 cases (94%), indicating highly significant agreement between the two techniques (Cohen's kappa coefficient 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.78 to 0.97,  < 0.001). sgRNA RT-PCR showed a sensitivity of 97% and a positive predictive value of 94% to detect replication-competent virus, further supporting sgRNA as a surrogate marker of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity. sgRNA RT-PCR is an accurate, rapid, and affordable technique that can overcome culture and cycle threshold ( ) value limitations and be routinely implemented in hospital laboratories to detect viral infectivity, which is essential for optimizing patient monitoring, the efficacy of treatments/vaccines, and work reincorporation policies, as well as for safely shortening isolation precautions.
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Núria Rabella and María Ángeles Marcos were co-principal investigators.
Citation Bravo MS, Berengua C, Marín P, Esteban M, Rodriguez C, del Cuerpo M, Miró E, Cuesta G, Mosquera M, Sánchez-Palomino S, Vila J, Rabella N, Marcos MÁ. 2022. Viral culture confirmed SARS-CoV-2 subgenomic RNA value as a good surrogate marker of infectivity. J Clin Microbiol 60:e01609-21. https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.01609-21.
Marta Santos Bravo and Carla Berengua contributed equally to this article. Author order was determined by drawing straws.
ISSN:0095-1137
1098-660X
DOI:10.1128/jcm.01609-21