A team from the Laboratory for Studies of Emerging Viruses (LEVE) at the Institute of Biology (IB) at Unicamp, in collaboration with other professors from IB, the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM) and LNBio, started this Tuesday (17) the process of developing a test to detect Covid-19. Using the coronavirus sample from the first infected patient in Brazil, researchers began procedures that aim to speed up local diagnosis and, thus, contribute to controlling the disease.
“If everything works well, by Wednesday at the end of the day we may have the first coronavirus detection reaction working in Campinas. At this moment, the work we are doing is consultancy to implement the detection of the virus locally, here within Unicamp, as an alternative to support reference laboratories”, explains LEVE coordinator, José Luiz Proença Módena.
He emphasizes that the diagnoses will continue to be carried out by the reference laboratory in the state of São Paulo, the Adolfo Lutz Institute. However, a quick and local diagnosis, which must be carried out by the Clinical Pathology Division of the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM) at Unicamp, is important to speed up patient referral.
“It will continue going to Lutz, but there will be a parallel flow to be tested at Hospital das Clínicas, in an attempt to minimize this time, aiming for an adequate containment strategy for positive patients. This is very important”, observes José Luiz. In the process of controlling the coronavirus in China, according to the professor, the reduction in the number of cases involved the rapid detection of positive cases and the immediate isolation of those who were symptomatic, with monitoring for those who showed worsening symptoms related to the disease. “It’s something we are trying to imitate and do the same here in the state of São Paulo”, says the professor.
This Tuesday morning (17), he and the team began Covid-19 expansion procedures. This step is carried out by introducing the virus into cells that are susceptible to the growth of the microorganism. When the cell has a large amount of virus, a change in its shape occurs, called cytopathic effect, which is expected to occur within a period of 36 to 72 hours after infection. .
After the cytopathic effect, the next stage follows the inactivation of the virus and the extraction of its genetic material, RNA, to obtain the material that will be used as a positive control. “With this positive control, we can standardize the detection reaction, which is a reaction that seeks to find genomic fragments, that is, genomic remnants of the virus in samples collected from suspected patients.” If the fragments are found, it is possible to say that a patient tested positive for Covid-19.
The professor recalls that diagnostics have been advancing and even commercial kits have been developed to detect the coronavirus. However, the high cost makes them not very accessible. “So when you think about testing thousands of people it ends up being prohibitive. Hence the importance of a local protocol in an attempt to reduce costs”. The estimated value, according to José Luiz, is between R$50 and R$70 per test for HC, including the entire process, from sample extraction to carrying out the molecular detection assay. The value, however, may undergo some change, as it was calculated before the pandemic was declared and before the dollar peaked.
After developing the diagnostic test, the team still intends to go further, carrying out tests to combat the virus. “We are going to carry out an active search for drug repositioning, drugs that are already validated for human use, trying to find something that can inhibit the replication of the virus for immediate use in those patients with severe symptoms in response to the infection”, says the professor.
All tests carried out at LEVE with Covid-19 are carried out in a level 3 biosafety laboratory, which is prepared to work with level 3 risk agents, as in the case of coronavirus. There is an exhaust, pressure control and sterilization system that does not allow the virus to escape into the air and minimizes the risk of contamination for professionals who handle the microorganism.
Task force
In addition to researchers from Unicamp, the study, which uses a protocol developed by researchers from the German Center for Infection Research, is multidisciplinary and involves other institutions, such as the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM). There was also collaboration with the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at USP, which sent the virus sample to LEVE and other Brazilian laboratories that could help combat the virus.
The Unicamp team is made up of José Luiz Módena, and the team that works at LEVE - Matheus Cavalheiro Martini; Daniel Augusto de Toledo Teixeira; Mariene Ribeiro Amorim; Stéfanie Primon Muraro; Gabriela Fabiano de Souza; Aline Vieria, Pierina Lorencine Parise, Karina Bispo do Santos; Julia Forato; Camila Simeoni; Julia Vitória. In addition to them, the initiative has the participation of professor Rafael Elias Marques from LNBio; professor Clarice Weis Arns (IB); professor Fabio Trindade Maranhão Costa (IB); professor Carolina Horta Andrade (Federal University of Goiás) and professor Fabiana Granja, who coordinates the Molecular Biology Laboratory at the Federal University of Roraima (UFRR).
