Abstract
Leishmaniasis, caused by protozoan parasites of the Leishmania genus, represents an important health problem in many regions of the world. Lack of effective point-of-care (POC) diagnostic tests applicable in resources-limited endemic areas is a critical barrier to effective treatment and control of leishmaniasis. The development of the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay has provided a new tool towards the development of a POC diagnostic test based on the amplification of pathogen DNA. LAMP does not require a thermocycler, is relatively inexpensive, and is simple to perform with high amplification sensitivity and specificity. In this review, we discuss the current technical developments, applications, diagnostic performance, challenges, and future of LAMP for molecular diagnosis and surveillance of Leishmania parasites. Studies employing the LAMP assay to diagnose human leishmaniasis have reported sensitivities of 80% to 100% and specificities of 94% to 100%. These observations suggest that LAMP offers a good molecular POC technique for the diagnosis of leishmaniasis and is also readily applicable to screening at-risk populations and vector sand flies for Leishmania infection in endemic areas.
Highlights
Leishmaniasis is a diverse spectrum of clinical syndromes caused by more than 20 species of the obligate intracellular protozoa parasites of the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of an infected female sand fly
This review provides information on the development of the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) diagnostic test and highlights recent advances in the field of molecular diagnosis of leishmaniasis and the needs for future research
The development and application of LAMP technique in the diagnosis of leishmaniasis cases in endemic areas is in line with the recent global trend in seeking rapid, POC tests for the control of infectious diseases
Summary
Leishmaniasis is a diverse spectrum of clinical syndromes caused by more than 20 species of the obligate intracellular protozoa parasites of the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of an infected female sand fly. There were no significant differences between the sensitivities or specificities of the LAMP kit test on whole blood and buffy-coat samples processed either by the simple boil and spin method or commercial QIAgen kits for VL in Sudan [20].
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