Received on ,
Accepted on ,

Brief Communications

Library of Prefabricated Locked Nucleic Acid Hydrolysis Probes Facilitates Rapid Development of Reverse-Transcription Quantitative Real-Time PCR Assays for Detection of Novel Influenza A/H1N1/09 Virus

¹ Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
² Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Penzberg, Germany
³ Laboratorio Medicina de Conservatión, Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Colonia de Santo Tomás, México

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: juergen.wenzel{at}klinik.uni-regensburg.de.

BACKGROUND: The emergence of a novel pandemic human strain of influenza A (H1N1/09) has clearly demonstrated the need for flexible tools enabling the rapid development of new diagnostic methods.

METHODS: We designed a set of reverse-transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) assays based on the Universal ProbeLibrary (UPL)—a collection of 165 presynthesized, fluorescence-labeled locked nucleic acid (LNA) hydrolysis probes—specifically to detect the novel influenza A virus. We evaluated candidate primer/UPL-probe pairs with 28 novel influenza A/H1N1/09 patient samples of European and Mexican origin.

RESULTS: Of 14 assays in the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes, 12 detected viral nucleic acids from diluted patient samples without need for further optimization. We characterized the diagnostic specificity of the 2 best-performing assays with a set of samples comprising various influenza virus strains of human and animal origin that showed no cross-reactivity. The diagnostic sensitivity of these 2 primer/probe combinations was in the range of 100–1000 genomic copies/mL. In comparison to a reference assay recommended by the German health authorities, the analytical sensitivities and specificities of the assays were equivalent.

CONCLUSIONS: Facing the emergence of novel influenza A/H1N1/09, we were able to develop, within 2 days, a set of sensitive and specific RT-qPCR assays for the laboratory diagnosis of suspected cases. H1N1/09 served as a model to show the feasibility of the UPL approach for the expedited development of new diagnostic assays to detect emerging pathogens.