2023-11-13 18:06:04
A portable, non-invasive device is capable of detecting biomarkers for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. The biosensor can also transmit results wirelessly to a laptop or smartphone.
Designed by a team from the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego (USA), the device has been tested on laboratory samples from patients with these two pathologies and has been shown to have the same precision as the most advanced technology available. The researchers plan to test the device on saliva and urine samples. Additionally, it could be modified to detect biomarkers of other conditions.
The study is published in ‘PNAS‘.
Unlike other systems used so far, this device relies on electrical rather than chemical detection, which the researchers say is easier to implement and more accurate.
“This portable diagnostic system would allow tests to be carried out both at home and with the health center or nursing homes,” he says. Ratnesh Lal, one of the authors of the article.
Current screening methods for both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s require a lumbar puncture and imaging tests, including an MRI.
This makes early detection of these diseases difficult, since patients are reluctant to undergo invasive procedures.
Testing is also difficult for patients who already have symptoms and have difficulty moving, as well as those who do not have early access to local hospitals or medical facilities.
One of the predominant hypotheses in the field, which Lal has focused on, holds that Alzheimer’s disease is caused by soluble amyloid peptides that bind together into larger molecules, which in turn form ion channels in the brain.
This team wanted to develop a test capable of detecting amyloid beta and tau peptidesbiomarkers of Alzheimer’s, and alpha synuclein proteins, biomarkers of Parkinson’s, non-invasively, specifically from saliva and urine.
Electrical detection
Another objective was to rely on electrical detection instead of chemical detection, as it is considered easier to implement and more precise.
Additionally, they wanted to build a device that could wirelessly transmit test results to the patient’s family and doctors. The device is the result of three decades of experience and collaboration with researchers around the world, including the co-authors of this work.
To realize Lal’s vision, they adapted a device they developed during the Covid pandemic to detect the spike proteins and nucleoproteins on the SARS-CoV-2 virus in vivo, which they described in the journal ‘PNAS‘ in 2022. This advance was possible thanks to the miniaturization of chips and large-scale automation of biosensor manufacturing.
The research team tested the new device with amyloid proteins derived from the brains of patients who died from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The experiments demonstrated that the biosensors detected the specific biomarkers for both pathologies with great precision.
David Baillot/University of California San Diego Device
The device also works at extremely low concentrations, meaning it needs small amounts of samples, even as low as a few microliters.
Furthermore, tests showed that the device worked well even when the analyzed samples contained other proteins. The tau proteins were more difficult to detect, but because the device examines three different biomarkersyou can combine the results of all three to obtain a reliable overall result.
Next steps include testing blood plasma and cerebrospinal fluid with the device, and finally, saliva and urine samples. Testing would take place in hospital settings and nursing homes.
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