Barcode Alzheimer Biomarkers with Barcoded Magnetic Beads Abstract: Current diagnosis of Alzheimer's relies largely on documenting mental decline. The tau and Ab42 have proven useful for predicting clinical progression in individuals who have very mild dementia or mild cognitive impairment. Nevertheless, even for these analytes, there is substantial overlap between control and AD groups, and a need for better prognostic ability. Given the multifactorial nature of AD pathophysiology, it is likely that there will be other biomarkers that will be useful in this regard. Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) uses targeted multiplex proteomic strategies to identify plasma-based biomarkers in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). While proteomic screens have identified a number of other candidate AD biomarkers, few studies have utilized large, well-characterized cohorts or have looked for biomarkers in preclinical or very early stage disease. While a great deal of works has been done, unfortunately, searching for biomarkers from a large number of protein profiling is still a daunting challenge. The current methods are labor intensive, high cost poor sensitivity, and have large CV. Moreover, one challenge researchers always face is that analysis of protein levels in the same sample often varies significantly from institution to institution. Current biomarker discovery technologies based on multiplex immunoassay are: 1. Microarray biochip: It has poor mechanical spotting repeatability, no content (target add-on) flexibility, poor reaction kinetics, low sensitivity, and not quantitative. 2. Bead based flow cytometer: It is not quantitative, has large CV (15 percent - 30 percent), limited sensitivity, beas carried over, and currently each panel only cover limited analytes. Applied BioCode, Inc. proposes to barcode all potential Alzheimer Disease Biomarkers with Barcoded Magnetic Beads (AD-BMB), which will provide the """"""""high multiplicity"""""""", """"""""high sensitivity"""""""", and """"""""high accuracy"""""""" for al-in-one or many-in-one biomarkers screening and identification. Barcoded Magnetic Beads (BMB) utilize digital technology instead of conventional analog methodology, offering unmatched multiplexing capability, content flexibility, decoding accuracy and excellent sensitivity. More importantly, the analyzer is easy to use, robust, and will provide consistent and accurate results. Experts believe that biomarkers offer one of the most promising paths as reliable predictors and indicators of Alzheimer disease.
The resulting AD-BMB technology will offer an efficient, cost-effective, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or plasma- based multiplex assay platform to identify Alzheimer biomarkers, making it a potent diagnostic tool as predictors and indicators of AD. In addition to the Alzheimer application, the AD-BMB technology has a wide variety of applications in the biomedical and bioscience research fields.
