Usefulness of the GenMark ePlex RPP assay for the detection of respiratory viruses compared to the FTD21 multiplex RT-PCR

Cartridge-based multiplex panels covering numerous pathogens offer an advantage of minimal hands-on -time and short time to result to commercial RT-PCR assays. In this study, we evaluated the performance of the ePlex respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) compared to the Fast Track Diagnostics Respiratory pathogens 21 multiplex RT-PCR assay (FTD21) using 400 clinical respiratory samples. Discrepant results were further analysed by a reference nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) and a composite reference approach was used for final interpretation. Discordant results were observed in 56 targets corresponding to 54 samples. Sensitivities and specificities were 85.5% and 99.9% for the ePlex RPP and 95.8% and 99.7% for the FTD21 sys-tem, respectively. Altogether, the ePlex RPP is a valuable tool for the rapid detection of a number of different respiratory viruses with the exception of the coronavirus family (low sensitivity ranging from 50-80%) and samples with a low pathogen load (Ct values >33). (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Automated summary

The study compared the performance of ePlex respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) and FTD21 multiplex RT-PCR assay, showing differences in sensitivity and specificity. The ePlex RPP is valuable for rapid detection of respiratory viruses, except for the coronavirus family and samples with low pathogen load.