by Due to its great efficiency and accuracy, nucleic acid testing (NAT) or nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) is one of the sophisticated diagnostic tests that is gaining ground over traditional culture procedures. Moreover, nucleic acid testing has potential applications in the development of customised and precision medicine, as well as a number of diseases that pose a threat to life, such as cancer, infectious diseases, genetic disorders, and mitochondrial and genetic diseases. The procedure duration and reagent usage are greatly decreased by the effective diagnostic technique known as NAT. The use of nucleic acid testing for blood donor sample screening to lower the risk of transfusion-transmitted illnesses (TTIs) is also expanding, contributing to the development of the
Many infectious diseases are screened for and diagnosed using nucleic acid assays. Also, the management of epidemics of novel diseases and the rising prevalence of infectious diseases have increased the need for sophisticated diagnostic procedures like nucleic acid testing. For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there were over 32,000 tuberculosis-related fatalities and about 3, 23,000 new cases of the disease in the European region in 2015.
Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that there were approximately 5,251 influenza-related deaths in the United States in 2015. In the United States, 16.8 million visits to doctor’s offices for infectious and parasitic disorders were recorded, according to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2015 data findings. The use of nucleic acid testing (NAT) makes it feasible to look at numerous variations in gene sequence and copy number, and it provides details on illness recurrence and the likelihood that a patient would respond to a particular treatment.
Moreover, NAT can determine which patients have had hereditary mutations, which ultimately aids in determining whether or not the patient is at an elevated risk of getting cancer. The rising use of nucleic acid testing is mostly due to the rising incidence of cancer in various geographical regions. For instance, the Cancer Atlas: 2017 estimates that 14.1 million new instances of cancer were diagnosed in 2012. Also, in 2017, approximately half of all new cancer cases and fatalities worldwide were reported from India, China, and other East and Central Asian nations. Also, by 2025, there would be 11.4 million cancer deaths and 19.3 million new cancer cases worldwide, according to the same source.
Additionally, increasing adoption of molecular and nucleic acid testing in cancer research programmes, to detect molecular genetic changes in single or multiple sequences of DNA or mutations, as well as funding for research by various government and private organisations for cancer treatment, are anticipated to support market growth for nucleic acid testing in the near future. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) allocated $3.9 billion in 2016 for cancer research initiatives, representing 70.8% of the NCI’s entire budget. NCI spent approximately $533 million on cancer detection and diagnostic research projects. Also, the NCI allocated 40.4% of its resources for Research Project Awards in 2016. (RPGs). Moreover, the NCI funding for research activities increased by US$ 454 million (8.7%) in 2017 compared to the previous year (2016).
