| Popis: |
Silicosis is an irreversible, incurable and progressive occupational disease caused by prolonged exposure to crystalline-silica while working in related industries. Conventionally diagnosis is done by chest radiology in advanced stage as early symptoms often go unnoticed. Early detection and secondary prevention could be the only realistic possible control strategy for controlling silicosis as no other method of treatment is available. Additionally, these patients are also vulnerable to drug resistant tuberculosis. Developing countries like India has a huge burden of silico-tuberculosis. Hence, a rapid and inexpensive screening method is a need for early detection of silicosis among silica dust exposed workers. Serum CC16 is a useful proxy screening marker for early detection of silicosis. In this study a lateral-flow assay for semi-quantitative estimation of serum CC16 level was developed. The detection was performed using gold nanoparticles conjugated anti-CC16 monoclonal antibodies. A sum of 47 serum samples was tested to do performance evaluation of the assay. A concentration of 6ng/ml or less produced one band, 6.1 – 9 ng/ml produced two bands, while more than 9 ng/ml produced all the three bands at the test zone. This assay can be used as a proxy marker for periodic screening and early detection of silicosis in vulnerable workers. |
