2016 Winner: INVESTIGATION OF A ONCHOCERCIASIS BIOMARKER DERIVATIVE (GLUCURONIC ACID) VIA A TWO COMPONENT SYSTEM BASED ON BORONIC ACID APPENDED VIOLOGENS RECEPTORS

Title of Project INVESTIGATION OF A ONCHOCERCIASIS BIOMARKER DERIVATIVE (GLUCURONIC ACID) VIA A TWO COMPONENT SYSTEM BASED ON BORONIC ACID APPENDED VIOLOGENS RECEPTORS

Division Physical and Biological Sciences

Course or Program Thesis class BME 198F

Description / Abstract ABSTRACT
Sugar acids are monosaccharides with carboxyl groups. The main classes of sugar acids include Aldonic acids, Ulosonic acids, Uronic acids and Aldaric acids. Glucuronic acid is an example of a uronic acid that was first isolated from urine and is important for the metabolism of microorganisms. Glucuronic acid is also a component of the Onchocerciasis (riverblindness) neglected disease biomarker N-acetyltyramine-O, B-glucuronide (NATOG). NATOG is a neurotransmitter- derived secreted metabolite from filarial parasitic nematode Onchocerca volvulus. These parasites are transmitted during a blood meal by a black fly vector carrying larvae, and affect more than 37 million people worldwide. Most infections occur in areas south of the Sahara Desert in Africa, Middle East, Central and now South America where there are limited resources for early detection and monitoring of disease. Current methods for early detection of the NATOG metabolite require specialized instrumentation, such as high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, which limit its use as a diagnostic biomarker. To circumvent this, an alternative rapid and inexpensive analytical tool is needed that would allow operation in these low resource settings. A two-component fluorescent system has been developed that utilizes a series of boronic acid receptors coupled to a fluorophore for quantification of sugar acids. The binding capabilities of the NATOG derivative glucuronic acid to six boronic acid receptors and the detection and quantification limits have been determined.

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