Diagnostic chips detect diseases

Novel diagnostic chips designed for disease detection

02/08/2011

US researchers have developed a chip that can detect diseases in no time. Within minutes, the novel chip lab can detect diseases such as syphilis or HIV on the basis of a blood analysis, the US scientists report to Curtis Chin from Columbia University in New York in the current issue of the journal „Nature Medicine“

With the aid of the diagnostic chip, various diseases can be diagnosed within a very cost-effective manner, according to US scientists. Especially in the developing countries, the chip could significantly improve medical care, as it is significantly cheaper than comparable laboratory tests and delivers timely similarly reliable results, said Chin and colleagues. The US researchers have successfully tested a prototype of the so-called mChip to patients in the Muhima hospital in the capital of Rwanda (Kigali).

Chip diagnoses diseases in minutes
As is the case in many developing countries, patients at Muhima Hospital usually get results in blood tests only days later, as these usually have to be performed by external laboratories, the researchers said. The mChip in credit card format, however, could speed up the process significantly in the future and deliver a similar reliable diagnosis as the previous laboratory tests. In addition, the cost of the new chip are significantly lower than in the conventional diagnostic methods. Thus, the researchers hope for the future on a broad use of the novel chip in developing countries. The credit-card-sized miniature lab in a plastic-coated microchip can diagnose up to ten diseases from a single blood sample, said Vincent Linder, chief technology officer at Claros Diagnostics. The result of the blood analysis is similar to pregnancy tests displayed on a strip, but to read the "mChip" but a handheld reader is necessary, the US researchers. According to the scientists, the handheld reader is about as easy to use as a cell phone, so there should be no major application problems with the technology.

Diagnostic chip similar reliable as laboratory tests
Relating to the reliability of the new diagnostic chip, the US scientists said the mChip had delivered an incorrect result in HIV diagnosis in just one out of every 70 cases. This is, according to the researchers, a similar hit rate as in the blood samples examined in the laboratory. Regarding the costs of the novel mChip, the scientists said that the chip could only be used once, but with an estimated production cost of less than one dollar (about 70 cents), it was much cheaper than the blood analysis in the laboratory. According to the researchers, the complete mini-lab made of mChip and reader should cost around 70 euros. However, the price depends on the actual number of copies of the diagnostic chip produced. Not least for this reason, Curtis Chin and colleagues hope for a broad use of the new mch chip. For example, the researchers cited HIV testing in pregnant women in Africa as potential applications.

Research on the so-called biochips is in full swing
For years, scientists have been working to develop a variety of chips to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. For example, the development of a DNA chip was discussed in 2008, which should enable physicians to easily determine whether additional breast cancer or chemotherapy is required in breast cancer patients following surgery to remove the nodule. The so-called breast cancer chip can determine over 200 genes that characterize the type and stage of a tumor. Also in the AIDS research high hopes are set on the so-called biochips. The chips are designed to help determine against which pharmaceutical agents the HI viruses in the patient's body may already have developed resistance to adapt the drug treatment of Aids patients accordingly. Now the US researchers with their novel mChip have succeeded in further developing such diagnostic methods. (Fp)

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Picture: Martin Büdenbender