Development and evaluation of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification combined with au-nanoprobe assay for rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) has been proposed as an inexpensive and easy to perform assay for molecular diagnostics. We present a novel strategy for the detection of LAMP amplicons derived from Mycobacterium tuberculosis by the use of Au-nanoprobes. When applied to a total of 93 clinical specimens, the LAMP assay demonstrated sensitivity and specificity higher than that of polymerase chain reaction and culture. The Au-nanoprobe augmented LAMP test platform with its advantages of robust reagents and a simple colorimetric detection method can be adapted easily for the rapid detection of other infectious disease agents at a low cost.