News University of Huddersfield Team Develops Blood Test for Diagnosing MS University of Huddersfield Team Develops Blood Test for Diagnosing MS by Patricia Silva, PhD | December 18, 2017 Share this article: Share article via email Copy article link University of HuddersfieldĀ researchers have developed a blood test for diagnosingĀ multiple sclerosis that avoids the invasive, painful process of collecting fluid from the brain and spine. The team at the British discussed the test in an article titled āSphingosine and dihydrosphingosine as biomarkers for multiple sclerosis identified by metabolomic profiling using coupled UPLC-MS.ā It appeared in the journalĀ Analytical Methods. Medical technicians check the blood sample for two biomarkers of MS ā sphingosine and dihydrosphingosine. Scientists have discovered that levels of the compounds are significantly lower in MS patients’ blood. In addition to offering a new diagnostic tool, the discovery may help scientists learn more about the compounds’ role in the disease, potentially leading to therapies. āSphingosineĀ andĀ dihydrosphingosineĀ have been previously found to be at lower concentrations in the brain tissue of patients with multiple sclerosis,” the researchers wrote said in a news release. “The detection of these sphingolipids in blood plasma allows the non-invasive monitoring of these and related compounds.” A Ph.D. student named Sean Ward, the study’s first author, used mass spectrometry and chemometric analytic software to develop the diagnostic method.Ā Spectrometry involves identifying and quantify molecules in mixtures.Ā Agilent TechnologiesĀ supplied the Mas Profiler ProfessionalĀ software to Ward’s research unit. In addition to the blood sample research, the software helped Ward analyze the plasma samples of MS patients who had experienced neuropathic pain, a common symptom of the disease. In this work, researchers compared the metabolomic profiles of MS patients who had experienced neuropathic pain with those who hadn’t. Metabolomics is the study of the chemical fingerprints that cell processes leave behind. āMass spectrometry data is very complex and there can be thousands of compounds in each sample,ā Ward said. Ā The Mas Profiler Professional sofware “allows the abundance of each of those compounds to be compared,” identifying “discrete differences.ā The work was part of an initiative at HuddersfieldāsĀ Centre for Biomarker Research. Scientists there have been exploring molecular changes in blood during different disease states as potential diagnostic tools. Print This Page About the Author Patricia Silva, PhD PatrĆcia holds a PhD in medical microbiology and infectious diseases from the Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands, and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Lisbon, Portugal. Her work in academia was mainly focused on molecular biology and the genetic traits of infectious agents such as viruses and parasites. PatrĆcia earned several travel awards to present her work at international scientific meetings. She is a published author of several peer-reviewed science articles. Tags blood, diagnosis, neuropathic pain
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