Cardiovascular disease biomarker detection using artificial nano red blood cells
[대학저널 장원주 기자] #. Cardiovascular disease is a dangerous disease that can be life-threatening and includes diseases such as heart failure, myocardial infarction, and stroke. It is a terrifying disease in which the survival rate is extremely low if not treated at the hospital immediately after cardiovascular disease occurs. If such a disease occurs, it is a one-time occurrence and is not a disease that can be solved by treatment, and such as diabetes, the patient’s condition must be continuously monitored and the risk identified. Biomarkers in the body related to the risk of cardiovascular disease have been studied, and it has been found that precise diagnosis is difficult with one biomarker. In addition to the existing techniques for identifying the risk of disease, fibrinogen, a protein whose concentration in the body increases significantly before and after cardiovascular disease, was measured. In the case of the existing fibrinogen measurement technology, the method using an enzyme has low accuracy and a large error range, making accurate measurement impossible.
Korea University (President Jin-taek Jeong) is Professor Dae-Sung Yoon (Picture)The joint research team of Professor Gyu-do Lee and Professor Jeong-Hoon Lee of Kwangwoon University announced on the 1st that they used the fibrinogen receptor (integrin αIIbβ3) present in the red blood cell membrane to overcome these limitations.
To this end, cell membranes and membrane proteins were extracted from red blood cells and coated on gold nanoparticles with a diameter of 70 nm (nanometers) to create a nano-sized erythrocyte mimic. If this mimic is used, it can mimic the blood coagulation process that occurs when a wound is injured, just like normal red blood cells. Specifically, red blood cell mimics aggregated in response to fibrinogen, and the degree of aggregation increased as the concentration of fibrinogen increased. The surface plasmon resonance phenomenon of gold nanoparticles was changed according to the degree of aggregation according to the concentration of fibrinogen, so that it could be observed.
The biosensor technology developed this time has various advantages over the analysis method of fibrinogen used in existing hospitals. The existing method is an indirect method of analyzing insoluble fibrin, a polymer of fibrinogen, but in the case of a developed sensor, a method of directly detecting the water-soluble monomer fibrinogen. In addition, the sensitivity and specificity were significantly improved, such as reacting only to pbrinogen without being affected by various interfering substances occurring in the blood coagulation process.
Patients in the risk group for cardiovascular disease are living their lives worrying when cardiovascular disease will recur. If patients in these risk groups monitor their own condition and check the risk of cardiovascular disease, the anxiety of patients can be reduced. Moreover, it is expected that more lives can be saved by preventing cardiovascular diseases that will occur.
In this regard, Stephen Kaptoge, a senior researcher at the Department of Public Health, University of Cambridge, UK, said, “If the concentration of fibrinogen and CRP (joint research program) is measured and the risk of existing cardiovascular disease is evaluated, the risk factor is removed only with drug treatment before cardiovascular disease occurs. There is a savings of 23,000 dollars,” he said. This is possible because hospitalization, surgery, and nursing expenses incurred after cardiovascular disease are reduced.
Professor Yoon said, “The sensor developed this time is a cell membrane-based biosensor developed by naturally simulating the body’s biological phenomena called blood coagulation, and the concept of such cell membrane biomimetic can be expanded in various ways. “For example, we can develop biosensors coated with cell membranes that cause diseases by naturally simulating the onset of various diseases, and various biomimetic biosensors that can diagnose diseases such as cancer, autoimmune diseases, and infectious diseases. Can be implemented.”
This research was carried out as part of the research project of the Natural Simulation Innovation Technology Development Project (Korea Research Foundation), and Ph. Department of Information Engineering, Corresponding Author) and Professor Jeong-Hoon Lee (Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Corresponding Author) participated as lead authors. In addition, it was announced as an online cover on the 30th of last month in ACS Nano, a prestigious international journal in the field of nanotechnology and interdisciplinary materials.
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