Development of an ultrasensitive and specific dengue fever diagnostic system

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20H04556
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 90130:Medical systems-related
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Ito Etsuro 早稲田大学, 教育・総合科学学術院, 教授 (80203131)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 戸谷 勇輝 早稲田大学, 教育・総合科学学術院, 助手 (90843897)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: タンパク質測定 / 感染症 / デング熱

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To achieve early diagnosis of tropical infectious diseases, which are expected to increase in Japan in the future, it is necessary to develop an ultrasensitive detection method to specifically detect trace amounts of pathogen components from specimens in a short time. We have invented the principle of "ultra trace protein assay" combining the sandwich ELISA and thio-NAD cycling methods. By optimizing the assay based on this principle, we aimed to construct the system to measure proteins with ultrasensitivity. As an example of its application, we attempted to construct an early diagnosis system for dengue fever (dengue virus). The dengue virus NS1 protein was used as a model protein, and patient samples were transferred from Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan as a joint research project.

Free Research Field

物理系薬学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究によって超高感度タンパク質測定法が確立できたので、血中のタンパク質のみならず、さらに格段に低い濃度で存在すると考えられる尿中または唾液中のタンパク質の測定が可能となるはずである。これによって非侵襲的診断が可能となり、特に採血が困難な新生児や老齢の患者にとっては極めて安心・安全な診断法となる。この社会的意義は大きいと考える。なお本方法は、抗体を交換するだけでいかなる感染症にも応用でき、極めて高い汎用性がある点に、学術的意義がある。