IIT Madras develops rapid Pre-eclampsia test to save lives of pregnant women

The researchers have come together to develop a Point-of-Care (PoC) testing equipment using fiber optics sensor technology as a possible alternative to existing technologies

Hyderabad: A research team led by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has developed a biosensor platform that promises to quickly and efficiently test pre-eclampsia, the high blood pressure disorder that occurs among women during pregnancy.

The researchers have come together to develop a Point-of-Care (PoC) testing equipment using fiber optics sensor technology as a possible alternative to existing technologies.

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The usual method to detect pre-eclampsia is time-consuming, requiring huge infrastructure and trained personnel, which makes this test mostly inaccessible to remote areas and resource-limited settings. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an easily accessible, point-of-care testing device with ‘3S’ features (Sensitivity, Specificity and Speed) for the diagnosis of pre-eclampsia, a press release said.

“The biosensor platform developed by the research team is simple and reliable, paving the way for affordable diagnosis. It can also lead to increasing the test coverage of Placental growth factor (PlGF) biomarker tests, thereby resulting in a potential for a significant impact on the management of pre-eclampsia and towards reduction in the global burden of mortality and morbidity from pre-eclampsia,” Prof V V Raghavendra Sai, Biosensors Laboratory, Department of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, IIT Madras.

To detect pre-eclampsia, tests using ‘PlGF’ biomarkers are widely in use, as the biomarker peaks at 28 to 32 weeks in normal pregnancy, but in the case of women with pre-eclampsia, it decreases by 2 to 3 times after 28 weeks of pregnancy.

“Placental growth factor (PlGF) is an angiogenic blood biomarker used for pre-eclampsia diagnosis. We have established the Plasmonic Fiber Optic Absorbance Biosensor (P-FAB) technology to detect PlGF at the femtomolar level using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) based U-bent polymeric optical fiber (POF) sensor probes,” said Prof VV Raghavendra Sai.

The POF sensor probes developed by this research team could measure PlGF within 30 minutes using the P-FAB strategy. The clinical sample testing confirmed the accuracy, reliability, specificity, and sensitivity of the P-FAB-based POF sensor platform, thereby paving the way for cost-effective technology for PlGF detection and its potential for pre-eclampsia diagnosis, a press release said.

The research team comprised Prof V V Raghavendra Sai and Dr Ratan Kumar Chaudhary, Department of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, IIT Madras, Dr Narayanan Madaboosi, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras, Dr Jitendra Satija, Centre for Nanobiotechnology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Dr Balaji Nandagopal and Dr Ramprasad Srinivasan, Sri Sakthi Amma Institute of Biomedical Research, Sri Narayani Hospital & Research Centre, Vellore.

The findings of this research were published in the reputed journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2024.116312)