人冠状病毒HCoV-NL63和HCoV-HKU1常规RT-PCR与实时荧光定量RT-PCR检测方法的建立及应用比较

Development and Comparison of Real-Time and Conventional RT-PCR Assay for Detection of Human Coronavirus NL63 and HKU1

分别设计HCoV-NL63和HCoV-HKU1特异的引物与荧光标记探针,并合成含靶基因的模板RNA,建立常规RT-PCR方法与实时荧光定量RT-PCR方法,对其灵敏性、特异性和可重复性以及用于临床样本的适用性等进行平行比较评价。结果表明:这两种方法皆可对HCoV-NL63或HCoV-HKU1进行特异性诊断,其中荧光定量RT-PCR方法检测灵敏度均可达10拷贝/25μL反应体积,不同批次重复检测结果间的变异系数均小于5%。上述方法应用于158份临床鼻咽拭子标本,其中荧光定量RT-PCR方法检出6份HCoV-NL63阳性标本,5份HCoV-HKU1阳性标本,而常规RT-PCR方法则分别检出HCoV-NL63阳性与HCoV-HKU1阳性各3份。对常规RT-PCR方法获得的阳性样品进行序列分析证实上述方法的可靠性。本实验成功建立了可用于临床标本检测的人冠状病毒HCoV-NL63和HCoV-HKU1常规RT-PCR方法与实时荧光定量RT-PCR检测方法,并初步证实荧光定量RT-PCR检测方法检出率明显高于常规RT-PCR方法,这为开展HCoV-NL63和HCoV-HKU1的流行监测及临床早期诊断提供了有效技术手段。

We designed specific primers and fluorescence-labeled probes to develop real-time and conventional RT-PCR assays for detection of human coronavirus NL63 or HKU1. Subsequently, experiments were undertaken to assess diagnostic criteria such as specificity, sensitivity and reproducibility. The detection limit of the real-time RT-PCR assays was 10 RNA copies per reaction mixture. No cross -reactivity was observed between RNA samples derived from designed HCoV and other HCoV or human metapneumovirus. A total of 158 nasopharyngeal swab specimens collected from adult patients with acute respiratory tract infection in Beijing were screened for the presence of human coronavirus NL63 and HKU1 by using real- time RT-PCR and conventional RT-PCR method. The fluorescence quantitative RT-PCR method detected six specimens positive for human coronavirus NL63, five specimens positive for human coronavirus HKU1; and conventional RT-PCR method detected three HCoV-NL63 positive and three HCoV-HKU1 positive, respectively. The convention RT-PCR products of positive samples were obtained and sequence analysis confirmed the reliability of the above methods. In summary, the real-time RT-PCR assay for HCoV- NL63 or HKU1 was more sensitive than conventional RT-PCR and with less time（less than 4 hours） for completion. It may be suitable for molecular epidemiological surveillance and clinical diagnosis for human coronavirus NL63 and HKU1.