Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is highly contagious and causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is the most accurate and reliable molecular assay to detect active SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, a rapid increase in test subjects has created a global bottleneck in testing capacity. Given that efficient nucleic acid extraction greatly affects reliable and accurate testing results, we compared three extraction platforms: MagNA Pure 96 DNA and Viral NA Small Volume kit on MagNA Pure 96 (Roche, Basel, Switzerland), careGENE^TM Viral/Pathogen HiFi Nucleic Acid Isolation kit (WELLS BIO Inc., Seoul, Korea) on KingFisher Flex (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Rocklin, CA, USA), and SGRespi^TM Pure kit (Seegene Inc., Seoul, Korea) on Maelstrom 9600 (Taiwan Advanced Nanotech Inc., Taoyuan, Taiwan). RNA was extracted from 245 residual respiratory specimens from the different types of samples (i.e., NPS, sputum, and saliva) using three different kits. The 95% limits of detection of median tissue culture infectious dose per milliliter (TCID₅₀/mL) for the MagNA Pure 96, KingFisher Flex, and Maelstrom 9600 were 0.37–3.15 × 10¹, 0.41–3.62 × 10¹, and 0.33–1.98 × 10¹, respectively. The KingFisher Flex platform exhibited 99.2% sensitivity and 100% specificity, whereas Maelstrom 9600 exhibited 98.3–100% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Bland–Altman analysis revealed a 95.2% concordance between MagNA Pure 96 and KingFisher Flex and 95.4% concordance between MagNA Pure 96 and Maelstrom 9600, indicating that all three platforms provided statistically reliable results. This suggests that two modifying platforms, KingFisher Flex and Maelstrom 9600, are accurate and scalable extraction platforms for large-scale SARS-CoV-2 clinical detection and could help the management of COVID-19 patients.

Gout is a metabolic disorder caused by chronic hyperuricemia, which leads to monosodium urate crystal deposition and subsequent inflammatory arthritis. Genetic factors, particularly those regulating urate transport, play a major role in susceptibility to hyperuricemia and gout. Among these, the functional ABCG2 variants Q126X (rs72552713) and Q141K (rs2231142) are well-established genetic determinants of impaired urate excretion. In this study, we developed a hydrolysis probe-based multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for allele discrimination and genotyping of the ABCG2 Q126X and Q141K variants in separate reactions. This assay demonstrated high analytical specificity without cross-reactivity in both synthetic and clinical samples and maintained reliable genotype detection across clinically relevant DNA concentrations. In method comparison using 1653 clinical samples, the multiplex real-time PCR assay showed complete concordance with Sanger sequencing (Cohen’s κ = 1.00). Combined genotype analysis (Q126X/Q141K) demonstrated a gene dose-dependent association with serum uric acid levels and hyperuricemia risk, consistent with the estimated ABCG2 transport function. These findings indicate that the developed assay provides a reliable and practical molecular tool for rapid ABCG2 genotyping and genetic risk assessment of hyperuricemia and gout.