A newly developed super sensitive kit is all set to make detection of cancer and HIV a lot faster. This newly developed kit is 10 times more accurate than the gold standard methods currently available for detecting prostate cancer and viral infections at the earliest stages.
Gold standard is any standardized reliable clinical assessment, which is generally taken to be the best available.
The visual sensor technology developed by the researchers from the Imperial College London is more sensitive for measuring biomarkers, (specific biochemical indicating disease progression), which indicate the beginning of prostate cancer and HIV.
This newly developed technique will be beneficial for developing countries where there are little sophisticated detection equipments. This technique is for cheaper and simpler detection and treatments for large numbers of patients, the journal Nature Nanotechnology reports.
To test the efficacy of sensor, the team tested it by detecting a biomarker called p24 in blood samples that indicates HIV infection, says an Imperial College statement.
The sensor does analysis of serum, derived from blood, in a disposable container. The researchers say that if the result is positive for p24 or PSA, there is a reaction which creates irregular clumps of nanoparticles, which give off a distinctive blue color in a solution inside the container.
In the case of negative results the nanoparticles separate into ball-like shapes, creating a reddish color. Both reactions can be easily seen by the naked eye.
Molly Stevens, professor of materials and bioengineering at Imperial College London, says: "It is vital that patients get periodically tested in order to assess the success of retroviral therapies and check for new cases of infection."
"Unfortunately, the existing gold standard detection methods can be too expensive to be implemented in parts of the world where resources are scarce.
"Our approach affords for improved sensitivity, does not require sophisticated instrumentation and it is 10 times cheaper, which could allow more tests to be performed for better screening of many diseases."
The team of researchers also says that the sensor was so sensitive that it can detect minute levels of p24 in samples where patients had low viral loads, which is impossible to diagnose using existing tests such as the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test and the gold standard nucleic acid based test.
"We also believe that this test could be significantly cheaper to administer, which could pave the way for more widespread use of HIV testing in poorer parts of the world," Roberto de la Rica, study co-author from Imperial College has been quoted as saying.
--with inputs from IANS
|
|
Comments:
