Rapid and simple clinical assays using nanoscale phage-based detectors and linear dichroism spectroscopy.

今天在临床医学中开展的许多工作都涉及到测量各种样本中的化学物质。例如，激素水平的测量是监测包括不孕不育在内的许多临床情况的重要部分。此外，感染控制(特别是对MRSA和艰难梭菌等问题病原体)涉及在就诊前、就诊期间和就诊后对患者进行持续监测。这种监测大部分是由经验丰富的科学家在医院的实验室里进行的，他们使用专门开发的抗体试剂进行复杂的测试。这不太适合可能需要快速响应的情况。例如，当全科医生要求对某种激素进行测试时，必须由全科医生采集样本，送到医院，在医院进行测试(通常需要几个小时)，并将结果发送给全科医生。这会导致诊断的延误，从而导致并增加患者出现负面结果的可能性。我们的工作旨在极大地简化和加快目前用于临床医学的分析方法。我们计划使用一种特殊类型的病毒，这种病毒可以感染细菌，称为噬菌体。噬菌体是一个非常复杂的结构，非常长和东西。噬菌体的优点是它可以通过基因改变与当前检测中使用的抗体试剂结合。我们还证明了这些噬菌体可以通过它吸收某种类型的偏振光的方式被检测到。只有当噬菌体在溶液中排列时，才能观察到这种效果。(很像意大利面在平底锅里搅拌时排成一排的方式)。我们已经证明，如果有其他东西粘在噬菌体上，那么噬菌体就不再对齐，我们再也检测不到它了。这意味着，如果我们的噬菌体抗体颗粒与细菌或激素结合，我们的系统就会检测到它的存在。那么，为什么这将有助于简化检测呢？我们的检测只需要将噬菌体抗体简单地添加到样本中。这与现有的系统相比，现有的系统需要至少添加3种试剂，需要一名专业科学家。然后，在我们的系统中，使用简单的仪器读取结果是一项简单的任务。整个化验过程需要5分钟，与目前可能需要几个小时的系统相比，这是非常快的。这使得该化验系统可以用于全科医生手术或直接用于临床病房。最后，该系统使用了已经为现有检测开发的抗体，这意味着目前所有可用的检测都可以立即与这个新的检测系统一起使用。

Much of the work carried out today in clinical medicine involves measuring chemicals in a variety of samples. For example, measurement of hormone levels is an important part of monitoring a number of clinical conditions including infertility. In addition, infection control (particularly for problem pathogens such as MRSA and C. Difficile) involves constant monitoring of patients before, during and after visit to hospital. Much of this monitoring is carried out by skilled scientist in laboratories in hospitals, using complex tests using specially developed antibody reagents. This is not ideally suited to situations where a rapid response may be required. For instance when a GP requires a test for a certain hormone to be carried out, a sample has to be taken by the GP, sent to the hospital, where the test is done (typically taking a number of hours) and results sent to the GP. This leads to delays in diagnosis which lead to and increase the likelihood for a negative outcome for the patient. Our work aims to greatly simplify and speed up the assays currently used in clinical medicine. We plan to use a specific type of virus that infects bacteria called a phage. The phage is a highly complex structure that is very long and thing. The advantage of the phage is that it can be genetically altered to bind to the antibody reagents used in current assays. We have also shown that these phage can be detected by the way in which it absorbs a certain type of polarised light. This effect is only observed when phage are aligned in solution. (Much like the way spaghetti lines up when it is stirred in a saucepan). We have shown that if something else sticks to the phage then the phage no longer aligns and we cannot detect it anymore. This means that if our phage-antibody particles bind to a germ or hormone our system will detect its presence.So why will this help simplify assays? Our assay will require only the simple addition of the phage-antibody to the sample. This is compared to the existing system that requires at least 3 reagents to be added requiring a specialist scientist. Then in our system it is a simple task to read the result using a simple instrument. The complete assay procedure would take <5 minutes which is extremely rapid compared to the current systems which can take hours.This makes it possible for the assay system to be used in GP surgeries or directly on the clinical ward. Finally the system uses antibodies that have already been developed for the existing assays meaning that all currently available tests can be used immediately with this new detection system.Taken together the phage-antibody detection system will help improve diagnosis and control of disease for a wide range of patients.