Researchers at Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) have developed a quick, inexpensive method called VirScan (viral epitope scanning) that can detect the viruses currently infecting a patient. They make it possible to test for current and past infections with any known human virus by analyzing a single drop of a person’s blood.
This project has been led by Stephen Elledge, who says that Doctors normally treat viral infections with a trial-and-error system of testing based on symptoms.
Elledge said the VirScan analysis currently can be performed for about $25 per blood sample. He also said it currently takes two or three days to process and sequence about 100 samples, though that speed could increase as technology improves. The test is currently being used only as a research tool and is not commercially available.
VirScan can detect the remains of more than 1,000 strains of 206 viruses from just a single drop of blood.
To develop the new test, the team synthesized more than 93,000 short pieces of DNA encoding different segments of viral proteins. They introduced those pieces of DNA into bacteria-infecting viruses called bacteriophage. Each bacteriophage manufactured one of the protein segments – known as a peptide – and displayed the peptide on its surface. As a group, the bacteriophage displayed all of the protein sequences found in the more than 1,000 known strains of human viruses.
To test the method, the team used it to analyze blood samples from patients known to be infected with particular viruses, including HIV and hepatitis C.
If the test were incorporated into a regular doctor’s visit, Elledge, told Business Insider, it could help reduce the spread of contagious viruses that don’t have obvious symptoms.
“Now imagine if this was a routine test that was done every time you went to the doctor. With things like Hep C, the earlier you treat them, the better.”
Ultimately, Elledge said he hopes the test could be used to more quickly detect conditions, such as HIV and hepatitis C, which patients can carry for years before displaying any outward symptoms. Experts believe VirScan also could lead to insights about the role long-ago viral infections play in the later development of certain cancers and autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
Researchers have already used VirScan to screen the blood of 569 people in the United States, South Africa, Thailand, and Peru. After observing over 100 million antibody reactions, the researchers determined that most people had been exposed to about 10 viruses on average, though a few had antibodies for 84 different viruses.
The scientists described the new technology and reported their findings in the June 5, 2015, issue of the journal Science.
