Diagnostic Platform Promises Early Disease Detection

Medical Design Briefs INSIDER

Some of the leading causes of death — both infectious and chronic diseases such as cancer — give rise to immune responses fairly early in the course of a disease. These snapshots of the immune system, called immunosignatures, use a single drop of blood on a chip to provide an in-depth picture of a person’s health. (Credit: Arizona State University Biodesign Institute)

A diagnostic platform could be a revolutionary approach to healthcare. With a single drop of blood, this ImmunoSignature diagnostic platform can detect diseases that involve an immune response — autoimmune, cancer, infectious disease, metabolic, and neurologic diseases. The technology will merge genetic, biological, and patient-generated data with sequencing and artificial intelligence technology to instantly detect meaningful signals about health, disease, and aging, and it will deliver a personalized guide for living a healthy life.

The high-density peptide array platform is the first real-time assessment that will be simple, inexpensive, and comprehensive. The technology has the potential to enable health monitoring using a single drop of blood that is analyzed on a regular basis. The route to this discovery has been published in Nature Communications and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers have demonstrated the potential of immunosignature profiling for diagnosing people suffering from more than 50 different diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s. In addition, the technology could be used to safeguard the security of our nation’s blood supply or give early warning of a disease epidemic. Researchers predict that the technology to track and report disease biomarkers directly to patients could be available within five years.

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