Early Detection of HIV May Be as Easy as Spitting

When it comes to HIV screening, healthcare workers often have to make a choice between using a reliable, albeit time-consuming blood test — or a simple, less accurate saliva test. The blood test is much more reliable at detecting signs of infection, but health officials often have a difficult time getting patients to volunteer blood. The other alternative is to rely on oral fluid-based tests that, while quicker and simpler, are frequently inconclusive because HIV antibodies accumulate at lower levels in saliva. A group of researchers from Stanford hope to change that with a new saliva-based test that combines the convenience of spitting into a cup, with the reliability and accuracy of a blood test. Carolyn Bertozzi, professor of chemistry at Stanford and leader of the lab where the test was developed, says the new test uses a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based detection method to detect the markers of infection. “The ADAP test essentially translates detection of anti-HIV antibodies, which are markers of infection, to PCR-based detection of DNA, which is a very sensitive technique,” Bertozzi said. “We start by chemically linking pure HIV proteins to synthetic DNA. Then we use these reagents as probes for the presence of antibodies in oral fluid that bind to the viral proteins. Those antibodies will only be there if the person has been infected with HIV.” Bertozzi said that when these antibodies bind to our protein-DNA conjugate, the two arms of the antibody bring ...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: IVD Source Type: news