• New molecule enables quicker drug monitoring
    New molecule enables quicker drug monitoring

Bioanalytical

New molecule enables quicker drug monitoring

Jun 09 2014

A new group of proteins have been found to enable the quick and simple detection of how much of a drug remains in a person's bloodstream.

The findings, published in the Nature Chemical Biology journal, saw a team of scientists from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), discovered that light-emitting sensor proteins can quickly and simply show how much drug is in a patient's bloodstream by changing the colour of their light. It is thought that this method is so simple that patients themselves could use it.

Monitoring the levels of drug concentration in blood is crucial for delivering effective treatment of patients, especially for those diagnosed with cancer, heart disease, epilepsy and immunosuppression after organ transplants. However, the current methods are expensive, time-consuming, and require specialists to carry out the procedure.

This is because effective drug treatment relies on balancing the efficiency and toxicity of the drug, which lies at the core of personalised medicine. However, as each patient is individual, this can vary from one to another and so requires constant monitoring to prevent prevent side-effects or poisoning. 

Current drug-monitoring methods have to be carried out in diagnostic labs away from the patient's point-of-care, but the study could see quick, low-cost methods developed, which would improve patient care and reduce costs.

Professor Kai Johnsson, from the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering at EPFL, developed the novel biosensor molecule that accurately measures drug concentration without the need for expensive infrastructure as it uses a regular digital camera. 

The molecule is the result of innovative protein engineering and organic chemistry, and has been shown to work on a range of common drugs used in treatments for cancer, epilepsy and immunosuppression.

It works by binding the drug circulating in the patient's bloodstream and changing colour accordingly. The molecule itself constitutes four components, a receptor to bind the molecules of the target drug, a small molecule similar to the target drug, a light-producing enzyme called luciferase, and a fluorophore molecule that can change the colour of the luciferase's light.

If no drug is present, the receptor and the drug-like molecule bind together, which brings the fluorophore close to the luciferase enzyme, and the system produces a red light. 


Digital Edition

Chromatography Today - Buyers' Guide 2022

October 2023

In This Edition Modern & Practical Applications - Accelerating ADC Development with Mass Spectrometry - Implementing High-Resolution Ion Mobility into Peptide Mapping Workflows Chromatogr...

View all digital editions

Events

analytica 2024

Apr 09 2024 Munich, Germany

Korea Lab 2024

Apr 23 2024 Kintex, South Korea

Korea Chem 2024

Apr 23 2024 Seoul, South Korea

AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo

Apr 28 2024 Montreal, Quebec, Canada

SETAC Europe

May 05 2024 Seville, Spain

View all events