- McCloskey, Duncan;
- Semeere, Aggrey;
- Ayanga, Racheal;
- Laker-Oketta, Miriam;
- Lukande, Robert;
- Semakadde, Matthew;
- Kanyesigye, Micheal;
- Wenger, Megan;
- LeBoit, Philip;
- Mccalmont, Timothy;
- Maurer, Toby;
- Gardner, Andrea;
- Boza, Juan;
- Cesarman, Ethel;
- Martin, Jeffrey;
- Erickson, David
Kaposis sarcoma (KS) is an endothelial cancer caused by the Kaposis sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and is one of the most common cancers in sub-Saharan Africa. In limited-resource settings, traditional pathology infrastructure is often insufficient for timely diagnosis, leading to frequent diagnoses at advanced-stage disease where survival is poor. In this study, we investigate molecular diagnosis of KS performed in a point-of-care device to circumvent the limited infrastructure for traditional diagnosis. Using 506 mucocutaneous biopsies collected from patients at three HIV clinics in Uganda, we achieved 97% sensitivity, 92% specificity, and 96% accuracy compared to gold standard U.S.-based pathology. The results presented in this manuscript show that LAMP-based quantification of KSHV DNA extracted from KS-suspected biopsies has the potential to serve as a successful diagnostic for the disease and that diagnosis may be accurately achieved using a point-of-care device, reducing the barriers to obtaining KS diagnosis while increasing diagnostic accuracy.