Researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have developed a high-sensitivity sensor platform, which can trace cholesterol in the saliva of patients with lipid metabolic disorders such as hyperlipidemia.

Professors Lee Soo-hyun (left) and Professor Lee Yi-jae

The team developed the method to eliminate problems in the existing diagnostic techniques such as blood tests, which can cause stress because of pain and the risk of various infections.

It focused on saliva as it is easy to acquire without regard to time and place, and has a high correlation with various biomarker concentrations such as cholesterol in the blood.

However, since the concentration of cholesterol in saliva is only about one hundredth to one-thousandth of blood, the researchers had to develop a sensor and platform with improved sensitivity, the institute said.

The team, led by Professors Lee Soo-hyun and Lee Yi-jae at the university, established a saliva measurement protocol to develop a user-friendly clinical diagnostic technology that is 1,000 times more sensitive than conventional portable blood cholesterol-based detection sensors.

The team believes that the new technology will serve as a new paradigm for early diagnosis and prevention of chronic metabolic disease.

“This technology can be applied to saliva and other body fluids based on various hormone and glucose detection, and it is expected to show superiority in convenience and technological progress compared to the blood-based diagnostic market,” Professor Lee said.

The team plans to conduct additional studies in detecting low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride in saliva using a larger number of clinical samples for more accurate diagnosis, while also finding a practical use of various lipid metabolism abnormalities, including hyperlipidemia, Lee added.

Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical published the result of the study.

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