Scientist develops highly accurate device to diagnose fatal lung disease -
A scientist from the University of Exeter has developed a simple, cheap and very accurate to diagnose and often fatal lung disease that attacks compromised immune individuals such as patients with cancer and bone marrow transplant recipients.
The lateral flow device (LFD), created by Professor Chris Thornton, detects invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, notoriously difficult to diagnose the disease caused by the fungus Aspergillus .
Invasive aspergillosis is a leading cause of death in transplant patients acute leukemia and bone marrow, which represents more than 0,000 fatal infections each year, with an associated mortality rate of up to 0%
The new device -. that looks like a pregnancy test, but uses a small blood sample - cost health authorities only -10 per test and will fit into the routine hospital practice. It could reduce the high rates of mortality and morbidity associated with the disease and enable better use of expensive and toxic antifungal drugs
Professor Thornton of Biosciences, said :. "People with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis often suffer from complex medical conditions and symptoms, which include raised temperature, dyspnea, chest pain and fatigue could be due to a number of other conditions. In currently, it can take several days to identify the disease correctly because of the lack of accurate diagnostic tests and the patient's health deteriorates significantly in the absence of appropriate treatment.
"low cost, speed, ease of use and compatibility of the new system with the hospital standard procedures means that the disease can be quickly and precisely controlled to support the point of using a single blood test or media collected during lung biopsy ".
Professor Thornton and his colleagues published a number of clinical studies with hospitals in London, Germany, Austria and elsewhere in continental Europe.
There is also an ongoing trial with patients with leukemia at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital under the care of Consultant haematologist Dr Paul Kerr. He said: "We have to leukemia Unit Exeter are very proud to work with Dr. Thornton and his team on this project, the diagnosis of this deadly infection is very difficult and can involve either refer the patient to unpleasant investigations and potentially dangerous, or may result in the use of expensive and toxic drugs which can not always be necessary. It is very exciting to think that a simple laboratory test can allow us to greatly simplify this process in the future. "
With the support of university donors and Angel, a spin-out company called ISCA Diagnostics Ltd. was established to enable the marketing of the test. Marketing and distribution of the global device is delivered by partner company ISCA medical OLM.
the lateral flow device will be used in hospitals worldwide from August. the test uses a highly specific monoclonal antibody to detect an active diagnostic marker Aspergillus infection, which means that doctors can more accurately identify patients who develop the disease.
this success is a visible example of how bench to bedside research University and development can offer a commercial impact through academic, industry and private partnerships with investors.
the work was funded by the National Institutes of Health, HEIF, private investors and a global product pharmaceutical company.
The Professor Thornton is a fungal immunologist with a specialist interest of the hybridoma technology and immunodiagnostic. His recent research has focused on human infections by opportunistic fungal pathogens and their rapid detection using monoclonal antibodies.
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