In the United States of America heart disease is the leading cause of death. Nearly 2500 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each day, which claims more lives than cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, accidents, and diabetes mellitus combined. Human cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is superior to other biomarkers in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction due to its specificity. The overall objective of the proposed research is the detection of cTnI based on the fluorescence spectroscopic technique using a chemically-modified quartz slide with a mutant monoclonal mouse IgG.
The specific aims are: (i) Surface chemistry characterization of IgG mutants at the air-water interface; (ii) Surface modification of a solid substrate suitable for the chemical attachment of the mutant IgG; (iii) Detection of cTnI using fluorescence spectroscopic technique of the chemically-attached mutant IgG-fluorophore.
Accomplishment of this proposed project will provide a revolutionary route for earlier and faster diagnosis using this biomarker. It will open a new avenue to directly detect the cTnI in a blood sample instead of the plasma and serum samples commonly used with spectroscopic techniques such as surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy. The transformative nature of this project lies in its innovative approach of detection using a chemically-attached mutant IgG.
