UATEC - Unidade de Transferência de Tecnologia da Universidade de Aveiro

UATEC is the Technology Transfer Office of University of Aveiro and it covers four main interrelated functional areas – Intellectual Property Management, Licensing, Entrepreneurship, and Industry Liaison.

Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

PSA purification and concentration from urine samples for non-invasive early stage diagnostics of prostate cancer

managed by UATEC

TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION

TECHNOLOGY SUMMARY
New method for the pretreatment of human urine samples, comprising the simultaneous extraction, concentration and purification of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a prostate cancer biomarker.
In this technology, aqueous biphasic systems composed of ionic liquids and salts are used. These systems allow the selective extraction of PSA and to obtain high concentration/enrichment factors, enabling the quantification of PSA using less sophisticated, cheaper and more affordable equipment.
CONTEXT
The PSA (tumor biomarker) quantification in serum is currently used for the early stage diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa). However, most of the available techniques for PSA quantification require extensive sample processing and expensive analysis (e.g. ELISA) that are mostly unavailable in low-income countries in which the mortality associated to PCa is higher. Furthermore, blood is an invasive matrix that requires certified personnel for collection. PSA is also present and can be detected in urine, a less invasive matrix. However, the current methods for its quantification in urine are highly expensive and cumbersome.
The developed cost-effective technology allows the simultaneous specific extraction, concentration and purification of PSA from urine samples using aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) composed of ionic liquids and salts. This technology allows a lossless and contaminant-free extraction and high concentrated factors in a single-step.

BENEFITS

NON-INVASIVE: this technology allows the use of urine as sample for PSA quantification.
SELECTIVE AND EFFECTIVE EXTRACTION, PURIFICATION AND CONCENTRATION OF PSA AND ITS ISOFORMS, allowing the use of urine for primary or complementary prostate cancer diagnosis and evaluation.
CHEAPER AND SIMPLER ANALYTIC TECHNIQUES: as high concentration factors are obtained, it is possible to quantify PSA with simpler analytical techniques, and requiring less laborious pre-treatment techniques.
POTENTIALLY HIGHER PREDICTIVE VALUE thanks to PSA and respective isoforms specific extraction.

LIMITATIONS

N.A.

APPLICATIONS

- QUANTIFICATION OF PSA AND ITS ISOFORMS IN URINE
- EARLY STAGE DIAGNOSTICS AND ASSESSMENT OF PROSTATE CANCER TREATMENT EVOLUTION AND EFFICIENCY

Readiness Level (TRL)

4
technology validated in lab
"The method was tested in real urine samples from healthy individuals, to which PSA was added into known concentrations. A study with samples from patients in different prostate cancer stages, with known blood PSA levels is ongoing. The required minimum urine sample volume is 25mL. It is expectable that with the appropriate support from partners, 10 months will be sufficient to scale-up and to introduce de technology in the market"
(The pie chart refers to the entire portfolio contained in the database of the helpdesk)

Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) are a method of estimating technology maturity of Critical Technology Elements (CTE) of a program during the acquisition process. The use of TRLs enables consistent, uniform, discussions of technical maturity across different types of technology.

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Sample Buy from Wisdomain

STATUS

Current status

Provisional patent application filed in Portugal (priority date: 29-10-2018)

AVAILABILITY

Available for

Licensing

INVENTOR / TEAM

Researchers from Aveiro Institute of Materials (CICECO) from the University of Aveiro

GENERAL ENQUIRIES
LICENSING REQUEST

Case manager: Maria João Cardoso

EU-Japan Centre
European CommissionMeti