Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Technology: Towards Point of Care Diagnostics

The invention of the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method a decade ago has given new impetus towards development of point of care diagnostic tests based on amplification of pathogen DNA, a technology that has been the precinct of well-developed laboratories. The LAMP technology amplifies DNA with high sensitivity relying on an enzyme with strand displacement activity under isothermal conditions. Additionally, the technology uses four to six specially designed primers recognising six to eight regions of the target DNA sequence, hence a high specificity. The auto-cycling reactions lead to accumulation of a large amount of the target DNA and other reaction by-products, such as magnesium pyrophosphate, that allow rapid detection using varied formats [1,2]. Over the last 10 years, LAMP has been used widely in the laboratory setting to detect pathogens of medical and veterinary importance, plant parasitic diseases, genetically modified products, and tumour and embryo sex identification, among other uses [3]. However, its application under field conditions has been limited, partly due to the infancy of the technologies associated with LAMP, such as field-based template preparation methods and product detection formats. In this Viewpoint, the author highlights the essential technologies that require development before the LAMP platform can be progressed into a realistic point of care format for resource-poor endemic areas.