Opis projektu
Czuły test hormonalny pomaga w kontrolowaniu otyłości
Choć otyłość występuje u ponad 10 % ludzi na świecie, żadna celowana terapia nie jest obecnie dostępna. Dlatego istnieje pilna potrzeba opracowania nowych biomarkerów diagnostycznych i prognostycznych otyłości. W ramach finansowanego ze środków UE projektu DNAsensPROT opracowano metodę opartą na aptamerze DNA do ilościowego pomiaru białek w próbkach biologicznych. Zamysł polegał na zastosowaniu tego podejścia do pomiaru stężenia leptyny, hormonu jelitowego regulującego apetyt i wagę, którego stężenia są proporcjonalne do masy tkanki tłuszczowej w ciele. Wdrożenie tej nowej metody w punktach opieki nad pacjentem stwarza możliwość wykonania ultraczułego testu w ramach diagnostyki problemów z kontrolowaniem łaknienia, podobnych do tych obserwowanych u pacjentów z otyłością lub anoreksją.
Cel
The life expectancy in both EU and US fell in 2015. A third of premature deaths could be preventable and large part is due to obesity – a major risk factor for many chronic diseases including diabetes. Worldwide about 40% of adults are overweight and 13% obese. Regulation of food metabolism is becoming one of the main issues relevant to human health today. Obesity is preventable, however there are no currently available non-invasive and cost-effective obesity treatments, pointing to the need of novel diagnostic and prognostic tests. Leptin, a gut-hormone protein, has been shown to be crucial in regulating appetite and weight. Its concentration is proportional to the body fat mass, and changes at a greater rate compared to weight loss, therefore it can be used as a key measure of diet efficiency. Strong correlation between plasma and salivary leptin levels allows monitoring leptin in saliva, and provides point-of-care (PoC) personalised insight into the success of individual weight loss programs.
During our ERC Synergy Grant we have developed an aptamer based approach to perform quantitative detection of protein molecules using nucleic acid amplification to overcome the complexities of current methods to enable PoC detection. The key idea (patent pending) is to amplify and quantify DNA displaced from DNA-aptamer complexes by Leptin molecules with real-time Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification. We will use an Ion Sensitive Field Effect Transistor lab-on chip arrays. Now we need funds to further develop this technology and create a PoC platform to provide linear label-free ultrasensitive protein detection, reducing complexity, time-to-result and cost of the assay. Furthermore, the development of this novel molecular method will enable quantification of a broader number of protein targets and create one of the most sensitive PoC techniques for protein quantification, with applications far beyond appetite control (obesity, anorexia etc) management.
Dziedzina nauki
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesnucleic acids
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNA
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteins
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineendocrinologydiabetes
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutritionobesity
Program(-y)
System finansowania
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantInstytucja przyjmująca
SW7 2AZ LONDON
Zjednoczone Królestwo