In the lab, Chandra Mohan, Hugh Roy, and Lillie Cranz Cullen are endowed professors of biomedical engineering, Richard Willson, Huffington-Westemeyer professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and professor of biochemistry and biophysics. The pair are pioneering a smartphone-based app and test kit for lupus nephritis, building on technology underlying home pregnancy testing.
Researchers at the University of Houston report the success of a new method for early diagnosis and monitoring of lupus nephritis at home. At home, if he has had a COVID-19 or pregnancy test, he has had what is scientifically called a Lateral Flow Assay (LFA) test. surgery. The team applied the same technique to the assessment of lupus nephritis (inflammation of the kidney), one of the most serious complications for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, lupus) patients.
A home test with results read on a smartphone aims to finally replace the gold standard for diagnosing active lupus nephritis, an invasive renal biopsy, with concomitant morbidity that cannot be repeated consecutively. I’m doing it. This test assesses levels of a protein-coding gene known as ALCAM.
“Urinary ALCAM (uALCAM) shows high diagnostic accuracy of renal pathological activity in active lupus nephritis,” say Chandra Mohan, Hugh Roy, and Lillie Cranz Cullen Endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering, one of the nation’s leading Reported to be one of the lupus researchers. The forefront of immunology. “Both unnormalized and normalized uALCAM LFA tests showed excellent accuracy in distinguishing between active lupus nephritis and healthy controls.”
The test had an accuracy of 86% in distinguishing active lupus nephritis from all other lupus patients.
Using the ALCAM biomarker discovered by Mohan, Richard Willson, professor of chemistry and biomolecular engineering at Huffington-Woestemeyer and professor of biochemistry and biophysics, laid the foundation for home pregnancy testing. Based on the technology, we have created smartphone-based apps and test kits.
“Routine monitoring of uALCAM by patients at home using this easy-to-use LFA test may accelerate early detection of renal damage or disease relapse in patients with lupus and reduce morbidity and mortality. There is,” said Willson.
About 204,295 Americans have systemic lupus erythematosus, an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of multiple organs, including the kidneys, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recurrences of nephritis are difficult to recognize because the symptoms are often masquerading as something else. Patients may think they have a cold, the flu, or are just tired.
“The importance of point-of-care testing platforms rests on their ability to enable patients to conveniently monitor their health status, thus enabling early diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression.” It is the most widely used rapid diagnostic POC test platform,” said Mohan.
In this work, the team demonstrated the promise of using nanofluorophore-based lateral flow immunoassays to facilitate at-home, smartphone-enabled monitoring of disease activity in LNs. These studies were conducted by his Rongwei Lei, a biomedical graduate student. Dr. Michelle Petri, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Other contributors from the University of Houston include Binh Vu and his Katerina Kourentzi Vu, William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Sanam Soomro and Suma Nadimpalli, Biomedical Engineering. Adheesha N. Danthanarayana and Jakoah Brgoch, Department of Chemistry.
“This may allow for the aggressive institutionalization of therapeutic and preventive strategies in LNs while minimizing treatment-related side effects,” said Mohan.
