ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2026
LAMP-coupled CRISPR-Cas12a assays: A promising new tool for molecular diagnosis of leishmaniasis.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTegumentary leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease endemic in the Americas. Its clinical management and control rely on early and accurate diagnosis and adequate treatment. PCR-based molecular diagnostics offer high sensitivity and specificity over microscopy or culture but are less accessible in low-resource settings. New molecular tools for detecting Leishmania infections are needed in rural endemic regions. A promising tool harnessing CRISPR-Cas technology enables highly specific and sensitive detection of nucleic acid targets, offering an exciting potential for portable molecular diagnostics. Previously, we developed CRISPR-Cas12a-based assays coupled to PCR preamplification for Leishmania detection. Here, we adapted our assays, which target the multicopy 18S rDNA and kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) minicircles, by replacing PCR with loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsLAMP-coupled CRISPR assays were optimized for fluorescence-based and lateral flow readouts. The assays could detect as low as 0.2 genome equivalents per reaction using L. braziliensis M2904 strain genomic DNA. The kDNA assay reliably detected all tested species of the L. (Viannia) subgenus, while the 18S assay showed pan-Leishmania detection capability. There was no cross-reactivity with other protozoan (Trypanosoma cruzi and Plasmodium falciparum) and bacterial (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) pathogen DNA, nor with human DNA. When applied to 90 clinical samples (skin lesions) from the Cusco region of Peru and compared to kDNA real-time PCR, LAMP-CRISPR assays with a fluorescence readout achieved a sensitivity of 90.9% (95% CI: 80.1-97.0%) for kDNA and 72.7% (95% CI: 59.0-83.9%) for 18S rDNA, both with 100% (95% CI: 90-100%) specificity. Overall, lateral flow strip results agreed with fluorescence-based detection in 18 tested samples, with one discrepancy observed in the 18S assay associated with low parasite load. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These new proof-of-concept LAMP-CRISPR assays, combining high sensitivity, multiple Leishmania species detection capability, and a portable lateral flow readout, hold promise as next-generation molecular tools to improve leishmaniasis diagnosis and surveillance, supporting One Health strategies for disease control.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.