Cells engineered to light up when they
come in contact with germs offer a quick way to spot potential
terrorist agents such as anthrax or for detecting the AIDS virus,
according to a study in the July 11 issue of Science.
Using a jellyfish gene, the immune-cell test takes only a
minute to detect small amounts of germs such as anthrax, smallpox
and plague, compared with hours or days conventional tests
require, said lead study author Todd Rider, a senior staff
scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln
Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts.
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Tests made by Chiron Corp., Roche Holding AG and others spot
germs either by looking for signs of identifying DNA or telltale
immune proteins that arise in response to bacteria and viruses.
Rider and his colleagues genetically engineered 12 sets of cells
that flash out a signal within a minute of latching onto microbes
such as HIV and hepatitis C, Rider said in an interview.
“It’s much faster, and it can detect germs when there only a
few in the sample,” he said. “Other tests may take tens of
thousands of viruses or bacteria to get an accurate result.”
Each test is designed to respond to a different bacteria or
virus and can also distinguish between dangerous and benign forms
of the same germ, Rider said. This is important when samples may
contain both harmful and beneficial strains of bacteria such as e.
coli, which lives in the human gut but can also cause severe
illness.
The paper is the first published after a six-year research
effort funded by a division of the U.S. Defense Department, Rider
said. The department hopes to use the technology to alert soldiers
to bioterrorist attacks.
The test, called the CANARY system, can monitor air purity in
public areas such as subway stations or office buildings, Rider
said. The system may be applied to find food contaminants, he
said.
The system uses immune cells that the body normally employs
to identify dangerous bacteria and viruses. Rider and his
colleagues added a gene so that when the cells bind to certain
germs, they make a luminescent protein normally found in a
luminescent jellyfish.
The CANARY tests may also be appropriate for diagnosing
diseases in humans, although Food and Drug Administration approval
would be required before they can be sold for that use, Rider
said.
Bloomberg News
