Painless microneedle patch could detect kidney disease earlier

Researchers have been developing a minimally invasive method to improve kidney disease diagnosis in earlier stages.

Kidney disease is silent in its early stages, progressing without symptoms until the disease is advanced.

The new research from the lab of Srikanth Singamaneni, a professor in the mechanical engineering and materials science department, shows the early success of a microneedle patch that can be applied on the skin to quickly and safely capture biomarkers and quantify them accurately.

The patch detected early signs of kidney injury and may one day support home or point-of-care monitoring without requiring refrigeration.

Results of their research appear in Advanced Materials. It is the first study to show that encapsulating biomolecules on microneedles preserved their biological functions.

The research team, which includes Yixuan Wang, a doctoral student in Singamaneni’s lab, created microneedles coated with a metal-organic framework (MOF) that can sample interstitial fluid in the skin. The microneedles are coated with a material that creates a shell that detects and preserves neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) antibodies, which are an early biomarker of acute kidney injury. The MOF shell preserved the antibodies for up to four weeks at 50 C (122 F) without refrigeration.

“This metal-organic framework encapsulation is a simple and highly effective way to create microneedle sensors that are resilient to environmental challenges and provide a scalable path to minimally invasive biosensing for at-home or remote health monitoring,” Singamaneni says.

NGAL increases in the blood within hours of a kidney injury and is a clinically validated biomarker for kidney damage. However, because it requires drawing blood with a needle and cold-chain logistics, it has not been useful in home-based or resource-limited settings.

Previously, Singamaneni and collaborators established another type of microneedle patches that can look for biomarkers of disease. Adapting that low-cost, easy-to-use technology required them to create a biosensor with high sensitivity and a broader range, as well as addressing cold-chain logistics.

Additional collaborators on the research are from WashU Medicine and Texas A&M University.

This research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, and VA Merit.

Singamaneni and Jeremiah J. Morrissey are the inventors of the plasmonic-fluor technology, which has been licensed by the Office of Technology Management at Washington University in St. Louis.

Source: Washington University in St. Louis