Release date: 2014-09-16
The nanobeads on the "artificial spleen" bind E. coli (left) and Staphylococcus aureus (right) and remove them from the blood.
Recently, in a study published in Nature Medicine, scientists have invented a high-tech method to eliminate the source of infectious diseases in the body, even infections that are not known to pathogens. This advanced device is called "artificial spleen" and can quickly remove all harmful substances in the blood, from E. coli to Ebola virus.
Blood infections are very difficult to treat and can lead to a fatal immune response, sepsis. It is often difficult for doctors to determine the specific cause of sepsis, so they use antibiotics to fight against unknown pathogens. This method does not always work and can easily lead to bacterial antibiotic resistance.
Innovation: MBL combined with magnetic nano beads
A team led by Donald Ingber, a bioengineer at the Wise Bioengineering Institute in Boston, invented a new method to remove any pathogens, the "artificial spleen." The “artificial spleen†filters the blood and removes harmful substances. The device uses a modified mannose-binding lectin (MBL). MBL, a protein that is one of the most important components of the innate immune system in the human body, combines the sugar molecules of more than 90 bacterial, viral and fungal surfaces and the toxins released by bacteria that cause sepsis.
The researchers applied magnetic nanobeads to the surface of MBL to form MBL-bound nanobeads (MBL-NB). When blood enters the "artificial spleen" device, MBL-NB combines most pathogens. Then, a magnet on the "artificial spleen" sucks the nanobeads and their "prey" out of the blood.
"Artificial spleen" uses protein-bound nanobeads and magnets to purify pathogens in the blood.
Effect: blood hazardous substances "vacuum cleaner"
To test the device, Ingber and his team infected the rats with E. coli and S. aureus, and then filtered the blood of the infected animals with an "artificial spleen." After 5 hours of infection, 89% of the blood-filtered rats were still alive, while only 14% of the rats that did not receive blood filtration survived. The device removes more than 90% of the bacteria in the rat, and the blood-filtered rat has only mild inflammation in the lungs and other organs, indicating that they are less susceptible to sepsis.
The researchers also tested whether the "artificial spleen" could handle an adult's average blood volume (about 5 liters). They passed human blood containing bacteria and fungi through an "artificial spleen" at a rate of 1 liter per hour. The device cleared most of the pathogens in the blood within 5 hours.
After the "artificial spleen" clears a large number of pathogens in the blood, the antibiotics and immune system can compete with the remaining few pathogens, which indicates that the effect of "artificial spleen" to remove pathogens will effectively control the infection.
According to Ingber, “artificial spleen†can also help treat viral diseases, including HIV and Ebola. Only by clearing the HIV and Ebola virus in the patient's blood so that their levels reach negligible levels can the patient survive. The research team is currently testing the "artificial spleen" on pigs.
According to Nigel Klein, an infection and immunologist at the University of London, “artificial spleen†can also collect pathogens from the blood to test which drugs are most effective against this pathogen. At present, blood transfusion and blood filtration are already very common technologies, and this device is expected to enter clinical applications within a few years.
Source: biodiscover
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