Tiny robot made of gold could help with the treatment of tuberculosis

A new small robot could help identify drug-resistant TB more effectively.

Scientists at Brock University in Canada have improved a microscopic robot that they created in 2016 to help solve this problem press release published on Monday. In an article published July 2 in the journal Chemical Science the team led by Feng Li, an badistant professor of chemistry, explains how the nanomachine could […] help solve a complicated problem in the treatment tuberculosis

. Tuberculosis is one of the top 10 leading causes of death in the world, according to the World Health Organization. About 1.7 million people died of TB in 2016 and it is the leading cause of death among HIV-positive people, with TB causing more than 40% of deaths among HIV-positive people. Although 53 million lives were saved through diagnosis and treatment between 2000 and 2016, the incidence of TB only declines by about two percent each year.

Drug-resistant TB is one of the reasons why the disease was so difficult to eradicate. The World Health Organization estimated that in 2016, 600,000 new TB cases were resistant to the most effective drug available, rifampicin. Of these 600,000 people, 240,000 died . Drug resistance is often caused because patients do not complete their complete treatment plan until the bacteria that causes TB are killed. In these cases, physicians should switch to another TB treatment as soon as possible. By detecting these cases of drug resistance earlier, more lives could potentially be saved.

The 2016 version of the microscopic robot

from Brock University could find diseases in a blood sample in just 30 minutes. However, in this new and improved version, the robot can also detect mutations in the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis potentially revealing in an hour whether the bacterium is resistant to first-line antibiotics such as rifampicin. Current tests reveal resistance within two hours.

FAISAL MAHMOOD / REUTERS

To create the robot Scientists first used 20 nanometers of gold, about the diameter of eight strands of DNA. Strands of DNA of varying lengths are attached to the gold particle and create and control the nanomachine. Long strands of DNA find differences between nucleotides in the genes of TB bacteria. Differences between nucleotides indicate mutation in genes and potential drug resistance capabilities. To signal a mutation, the short DNA strands carry fluorescent signalers that will shine.

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This robot could replace the test that was used to find drug-resistant TB, potentially reducing the detection time by half. This means faster diagnosis, a new treatment for the patient and a greater chance of survival.

The goal of the World Health Organization is to reach an annual decline of 4-5% of TB by 2020. and diagnostic methods will become even more required.

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