Diagnosis by saliva
Autoimmune diseases can be diagnosed by saliva sample
Anna Kerman, XX2 century
Immunity is the most important system of the human body that can protect us from both external and internal dangers. But sometimes the immune system "fails", and the protective cells begin to attack their own healthy tissues of the body. This is how type 1 diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus and many other diseases, combined under the name "autoimmune", develop.
Unfortunately, today doctors are able to recognize autoimmune diseases only when the patient has already developed symptoms, that is, when the process of destruction of their own tissues has gone far enough. But recently, scientists from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) managed to develop a new method for diagnosing autoimmune disorders. Perhaps in the future, this approach will allow doctors to diagnose these diseases and prescribe treatment even before irreparable harm is done to the body.
Scientists from the Polytechnic University proposed using the method of laser correction spectroscopy to study the immune response in body fluids, for example, in saliva. It has long been known that saliva contains all the same immune proteins as in the blood, and saliva sampling for analysis is much easier and cheaper than blood sampling.
The essence of the proposed method is the analysis of scattered light obtained by laser illumination of human biological fluid, whether saliva or blood. The laser beam focuses on the sample. Proteins in the liquid scatter light, which is detected by the detector. By the nature of the change in the intensity of scattered light over time, it is possible to determine the size of the particles floating in the liquid.
During the activation of immunity, the particle size changes – proteins connect with each other and become larger. In addition, the size composition of biological fluids varies from person to person and depends on the presence of certain diseases. Thus, it is possible to determine whether the human body reacts to infections properly and at the same time diagnose diseases of the immune system.
With the help of the proposed method, it is also possible to test drugs not on a person, but on his biological fluids, which will help to individualize treatment without risks for the patient himself and with minimal additional costs. The existing methods of biochemical research are not prescribed without explicit indications, because they are complex and expensive.
"We offer a cheap and, most importantly, an effective method of diagnosing diseases without any indications. We need a laser, a receiver, and a data analysis program. In the process of routine medical examination, anyone can "spit in a test tube" and find out about their diseases even before the disease begins to manifest itself. This greatly increases the chances of recovery," says Elina Nepomnyashchaya, an engineer of the scientific group of the Institute of Physics, Nanotechnology and Telecommunications of SPbPU.
Since no one has yet conducted such studies of the dynamics of activation of immune proteins using optical methods, a lot of work awaits researchers ahead. Scientists have revealed that there is a reaction and the proposed method works. Now you need to make the most detailed map by studying the reactions of patients with various pathologies. Polytech specialists are conducting this study in close cooperation with polyclinic institutions, which are more interested than anyone in the emergence of a cheap method of diagnosing autoimmune diseases.
Article by Nepomnyashchaya et al. Spectroscopic techniques to study the immune response in human saliva is published in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru