A SIMPLE, ONE CHIP DIAGNOSTIC TECHNOLOGY WITH BROAD APPLICATIONS

Abstract

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In the US 85% of the healthcare costs (~$2.5T/yr) are devoted to taking care of sick people. To change this situation, healthcare must convert from post-symptomatic treatment to prevention and early detection/treatment of disease. We have invented a technology that may facilitate early detection of any disease. Immunosignaturing diagnostic technology is premised on the idea that the antibody profile of an individual at a given time is a reflection of their health status and that people with common illnesses will present similar profiles. With ~109 different antibodies in a person at a given time the challenge is to splay out enough of them to diagnose. We found that we can do this effectively with chips with -3*105 random sequence peptides on them. The peptides are synthesized using computer chip lithography technology so it is scalable. In the current practice a drop of blood is sent through the standard mail on a filter paper. The drop is diluted ~5000 fold in buffer and applied to the chip. Unbound material is washed off and the antibodies detected with a secondary antibody. It is a very simple, robust process. No processing of the sample is required. The signature algorithm for each disease is produced by comparing a sufficient number of affected and not affected people. The same chip is used for every type of disease diagnosis. We have applied this technology to distinguish cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and numerous infectious diseases. The technology has also been used for early detection of disease and evaluation of vaccine candidates. Our vision is that all people will regularly send in a drop of blood to be monitored for any indication of disease. This will be done for little cost and be highly specific. Eventually the system could be in the home. In this way we could transition to a truly presymptomatic health system.