Credit score: Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2025.117395
A group of Northwestern College scientists spanning disciplines have developed new expertise that would result in the creation of a fast point-of-care take a look at for HIV an infection aggressive with conventional lab-based HIV testing in a fraction of the time and with out the necessity for a demanding wait whereas outcomes are processed or confirmed in a medical laboratory.
HIV-diagnostic expertise historically relied on the detection of HIV-specific antibodies that kind a number of weeks after an infection. This has restricted their use in early detection, complicating affected person care and HIV prevention efforts. Newer exams that detect each HIV antibodies and the p24 antigen (an earlier marker of HIV an infection) are actually the gold normal for prognosis, however require medical labs to run outcomes, contributing to longer processing occasions, larger prices and the necessity for a number of affected person visits.
The expertise described in a examine printed within the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics makes use of a nanomechanical platform and tiny cantilevers to detect a number of HIV antigens at excessive sensitivity in a matter of minutes.
These silicon cantilevers are low-cost and straightforward to mass produce and will be readily geared up with a digital readout. Constructed right into a solar-powered machine, this expertise could possibly be taken to hard-to-reach elements of the world the place early detection stays a problem to ship quick interventions to weak populations with out ready for a lab.
“We hope this technology will lead to the development of new point-of-care diagnostics for HIV to improve patient health and help bring an end to this epidemic,” stated Northwestern virologist and co-author of the examine, Judd F. Hultquist.
After proving its efficacy in testing for each the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, and now HIV, the group is assured that the biosensor will proceed to show efficient when testing for added ailments. A possible subsequent goal, they are saying, could possibly be measles, one other an infection in determined want of point-of-care interventions as circumstances rise throughout a number of U.S. states.
The group was led by co-corresponding authors Vinayak Dravid, a supplies engineer, Hultquist, a virologist, and co-author Gajendra Shekhawat, a micro- and nanofabrication knowledgeable within the Dravid Lab.
“When we first developed the microcantilever technology 20 years ago, I realized that this technology is so generally applicable,” Dravid stated. “It is a very powerful tool that depends on three basic things: sensitivity, antigen-antibody affinity and specificity. This is where HIV comes in, because HIV is so pernicious that it mutates so there is no unique antibody. We had to figure out how to overcome that challenge.”
Starting with pure samples of the p24 antigen, the group utilized layers of antibodies onto every “finger” of the gold-coated microcantilever to measure how strongly p24 bonded to the floor, which might trigger the cantilever to bend a measurable and quantifiable quantity.
After this proof-of-concept, the group launched human blood samples, that are way more complicated than purified samples. The sensor continued to bend solely in samples the place p24 was current, demonstrating excessive specificity.
Lastly, the scientists added two antibodies to totally different “fingers” of the microcantilever to extra broadly cowl all HIV subtypes. Even in very low concentrations, the take a look at precisely responded when antigens particular to HIV have been launched.
“To account for HIV’s genetic diversity, we functionalized the test for HIV using broadly cross-reactive antibodies (ANT-152 and C65690M),” Shekhawat stated. “This allowed accurate detection across diverse HIV-1 subtypes, ensuring reliability in global settings.”
To streamline diagnostics and allow speedy medical care, the group envisions creating a point-of-care take a look at to concurrently detect HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C antigens, acknowledging the upper prevalence of hepatitis co-infections in folks residing with HIV, which might result in extreme liver issues if left untreated.
Extra info:
Angel Inexperienced Samuel et al, Nanomechanical Techniques for the fast detection of HIV-1 p24 antigen, Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2025.117395
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Novel point-of-care expertise delivers correct HIV leads to minutes (2025, April 2)
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