The new service point technology offers precise HIV results in minutes

A team of scientists from the Northwestern University spanning disciplines has developed new technologies that could lead to the creation of a rapid service point test for competitive HIV infection with traditional laboratory tests in a fraction of time and without the need for stressful expectations while the results are treated or confirmed in a clinical laboratory.

HIV-diagnostic technology was traditionally based on the detection of specific HIV antibodies which are formed several weeks after infection. This limited their use in early detection, complicating Patient care and HIV prevention efforts. The more recent tests that detect both HIV antibodies and the P24 antigen (an anterior marker of HIV infection) are now the gold stallion for diagnosis, but require clinical laboratories to perform results, contributing to longer processing times, higher costs and the need for multiple visits for patients.

Technology described in a study published in the newspaper Biocapper and bioelectronics Use a nanomechanical platform and tiny canteilers to detect several HIV antigens with high sensitivity in a few minutes.

These silicon cantilevers are inexpensive and easy to understand and can be easily equipped with digital reading. Built in a solar energy apparatus, this technology could be taken in parts that are difficult to access in the world where early detection remains a challenge to provide rapid interventions to vulnerable populations without delay a laboratory.

“We hope that this technology will lead to the development of new service point diagnoses for HIV to improve patient health and help end this epidemic,” said the northwest virologist and study co-author, Judd F. Hultquist.

After having proven its effectiveness in the tests of both the Sars-Cov-2 virus which causes COVID-19, and now HIV, the team is convinced that the biocoverter will continue to prove to be effective during the test of additional diseases. The next potential target, they say, could be measles, another infection in a desperate need for service points interventions as cases increase in several American states.

The team was led by authors of Co-Corresonding Vinayak Dravid, materials engineer, Hultquist, virologist, and co-author Gajendra Shekhawat, a micro- and nanofabrication expert in the dravid laboratory.

“When we developed Microcantiper technology for the first time 20 years ago, I realized that this technology was generally applicable,” said Dravid. “It is a very powerful tool which depends on three basic things: the sensitivity, the affinity and the specificity of the antigen-antibods. This is where HIV arrives, because HIV is so pernicious that it mute so there is no unique antibody. We had to understand how to overcome this challenge.”

Starting with pure samples of the P24 antigen, the team applied coats of antibodies on each “finger” of the gold coating microcantile to measure the force of the P24 linked to the surface, which would fold the cantilever to fold a measurable and quantifiable quantity.

After this proof of concept, the team introduced human blood samples, which are much more complex than purified samples. The sensor continued to fold only in samples where P24 was present, demonstrating a high specificity.

Finally, scientists added two antibodies to different “fingers” of the microcant to cover all the subtypes of HIV more widely. Even in very low concentrations, the test responded precisely when HIV specific antigens were introduced.

“To take into account the genetic diversity of HIV, we operated the HIV test using largely reactive antibodies (ANT-152 and C65690M),” said Shekhawat. “This allowed precise detection in various subtypes of HIV-1, guaranteeing reliability in world contexts.”

To rationalize diagnoses and allow immediate medical care, the team plans to develop a service point test to simultaneously detect HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C antigens, recognizing the higher prevalence of hepatitis infections in people living by HIV, which can cause severe liver complications if not treated.