Scientists at Kanazawa University have developed a new handy biosensor to detect such minute levels of the disease-indicating metabolite without requiring a momento sample preparation. The technology could potentially transform cancer and liver disease diagnosis and monitoring, among other things.
Discovering the Potential of Metabolites
They act as vital signs for the inner workings of our bodies and can offer important clues about the onset and progress of a host of diseases. One of these metabolites, called 1-methylnicotinamide (1-MNA), has been shown to be increased from cancer and liver disease to obesity and metabolic disorders.
How these measurements are made has traditionally been both complicated and expensive, often using mass spectrometry or nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. The practical implications of lane calling technologies to such diagnostic tools have so far been limited, thereby restricting broader applications for clinicians and scientists in the complex areas of monitoring and intervention in these diseases.
A Biosensor Breakthrough
Now, scientists at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, have shown that spherical gold nanoparticles can be synthesised and decorated with proteins so they can also sense appealing chemicals. The researchers have developed a biosensor that will register, more accurately than ever before and without the need for specific cleanup of the samples or prep, levels of 1-MNA.
This groundbreaking development hinges on a special class of molecule — called a pillararene. Functionalizing the pillararene with sulfonate group (P6AS) has produced a biosensor that is 700 times more effective than previous carboxylate-based sensors in its binding strength to 1-MNA. This high sensitivity makes it a powerful biosensor that was able to show micromolar sensitivity to 1-MNA in non-purified human urine samples, addressing the shortcomings of previously available technology.
The researchers note that the sulfonate groups are more acidic, which results in stronger binding to the target metabolite and thus increased sensitivity of their sensor. The simplicity of this assay and the potential for its broad application, which includes high-throughput screening of NNMT inhibitors, a critical enzyme that is involved in 1-MNA generation, liver disease diagnosis and human cancer cell imaging (6), makes this recognition mechanism appealing.
Conclusion
This sensitive and flexible biosensor shows a new possibility on metabolite-related disease detection in clinical point of view. The realization of this technology as a fast, affordable and high-throughput solution has the potential to project in its part how we can diagnose and treat an extensive variety of diseases that will likely provide better outcomes for patients on one hand whilst making our healthcare systems much more cost efficient.
