INCOBRA - Increasing International Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation between Brazil and the European Union

Researchers from the Institute of Chemistry of the São Paulo State University (Unesp), Brazil, have developed in partnership with colleagues from the University of Oxford, England, a technology platform that can result in the creation of ultrasensitive biosensors for the rapid and early diagnosis of a number of diseases, such as breast and prostate cancer, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, among others.

"The technology platform we have developed is so sensitive that it would detect prostate cancer, for example, at a very early stage when there are still few circulating cancer cells that would be impossible to diagnose through a biopsy”, explains Unesp’s Professor Paulo Roberto Bueno, coordinator of the project.

The method consists in measuring the presence of specific antibodies, proteins or other biomarkers (measurable biological parameters that allow to know the state of a disease or the response to a drug) in a sample of blood or other types of biological samples by means of scaled electrodes microscopic.

"This process allows us to create an ultra-sensitive and highly selective system to determine the presence of biological molecules of clinical interest in a blood sample, for example", Bueno said.

In order to identify only one type of molecule of interest out of thousands of others present in a patient's blood sample, the system performs a spectroscopic analysis of substances based on the production and interpretation of their capacitance (electrical magnitude) spectra.

"This technology also allows the combination of several electrodes to detect the presence and quantify several biomarkers simultaneously, such as those associated with prostate cancer", said the researcher.

The main biomarker of the disease is prostate specific antigen (PSA), which at high levels indicates the development of the second type of cancer that causes the most deaths of men in Brazil, behind only lung cancer. PSA levels, however, can vary naturally.

In order to determine a patient's risk of developing prostate cancer, the method can track both PSA and other biomarkers, such as total PSA and a protein called PAP, also related to the disease. If the system detects that all three of these proteins are changing in a constant and concomitant way in a particular patient, the doctor can identify the risk of developing the disease and refer it to a preventive treatment. "The same concept holds true for other degenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, which require early diagnosis", he said.

 

The researchers envisage the possibility of using the technology to make emergency diagnosis of other diseases, such as dengue and those caused by the Zika virus, at the place of occurrence.

Instead of collecting the blood sample from a patient suspected of dengue infection or Zika virus and sending it to a laboratory for analysis – which may take weeks –  the method could be used to analyze the sample at home itself by health agents.

The results of the tests could be sent via the internet to a hospital in the region where the patient would be referred for treatment.

Bueno explains that, in addition to streamlining the diagnosis, the method can be useful for mapping out foci of these diseases and alerting the health system, through the creation of an intelligent database, which can be updated daily.

 

Market Potential

The technology resulted in five patents, deposited by the University of Oxford jointly with Unesp and divided between researchers of the two institutions.

With an eye on the market potential of the system, the British university founded a spin-off – a technology-based offshoot of a research institution – called Oxford Impedance Diagnostics, which licensed three of the five patents and plans to expand the development of the technology platform.

The startup obtained a seed money of £ 2 million – equivalent to nearly R$ 7 million – from investors, including investment funds from the University of Oxford itself, and angel investors.

"The business model of the company indicates that in up to eight years must be created some rapid tests that will be marketed internationally to detect a series of diseases based on the technology platform we are developing," said Bueno.