ICMR ready to transfer technology for commercialisation of TB detection kit

Subject: Science and Tech

Sec: Health

Context:

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has begun work on bringing in affordable, faster and easy-to-use testing technology for detection of tuberculosis (TB).The Council has invited Expressions of Interest (EOI) from organisations, companies, and manufacturers for undertaking ‘Transfer of Technology’ for the commercialisation of A CRISPR Cas based TB detection system for the detection of Mycobacterium TB.

More on News:

Developed by ICMR- RMRCNE Institute, Dibrugarh the technology is touted as the “world’s cheapest TB testing system”.
The system can detect the TB bacteria using DNA from a patient’s saliva for a very low cost, can identify the bacteria with preliminary symptoms, and test over 1,500 samples simultaneously within approximately two hours.ICMR-RMRCNE Institute would accelerate the development of the product and its commercialization.
ICMR would provide technical support through its team of experienced scientists in study planning, product development, development of study protocol, results/data analysis, outcome assessment, safety & efficacy assessment, product improvement, etc.

Tuberculosis:

- Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
- Affect any organ of the body.
- The most common ones are the lungs, pleura (lining around the lungs), lymph nodes, intestines, spine, and brain.
Transmission:
- It is an airborne infection that spreads through close contact with the infected, especially in densely populated spaces with poor ventilation.
Symptoms:
- Cough with sputum
- Blood at times
- Chest pains
- Weakness
- Weight loss
- Fever
- Night sweats.

Treatment:
- Standard 6-month course of 4 antimicrobial drugs that are provided with information, supervision and support to the patient by a health worker or trained volunteer.
- Anti-TB medicines have been used for decades and strains that are resistant to 1 or more of the medicines have been documented in every country surveyed.
  - Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a form of TB caused by bacteria that do not respond to isoniazid and rifampicin, the 2 most powerful, first-line anti-TB drugs.
    - MDR-TB is treatable and curable by using second-line drugs such as bedaquiline.
  - Extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) is a more serious form of MDR-TB caused by bacteria that do not respond to the most effective second-line anti-TB drugs, often leaving patients without any further treatment options.
Drugs for TB:
- Isoniazid (INH): This drug is a cornerstone of TB treatment and is highly effective against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
  - It works by inhibiting the synthesis of mycolic acids in the bacterial cell wall.
- Rifampicin (RIF): Works by inhibiting the synthesis of RNA in the bacteria.
  - It is often used in combination with other drugs to treat TB and is crucial for preventing the development of drug resistance.
- Delamanid: Newer drug that is used in the treatment of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and is often used in combination with other drugs.

CRISPR Technology:

About:
- Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is a gene editing technology, which replicates natural defence mechanism in bacteria to fight virus attacks, using a special protein called Cas9.
- It usually involves the introduction of a new gene, or suppression of an existing gene, through a process described as genetic engineering.
  - CRISPR technology does not involve the introduction of any new gene from the outside.
- CRISPR-Cas9 technology is often described as ‘Genetic Scissors’.
  - Its mechanism is often compared to the ‘cut-copy-paste’, or ‘find-replace’ functionalities in common computer programmes.
  - A bad stretch in the DNA sequence, which is the cause of disease or disorder, is located, cut, and removed and then replaced with a ‘correct’ sequence.
    - The tools used to achieve this are biochemical i.e., specific protein and RNA molecules.
- The technology replicates a natural defence mechanism in some bacteria that uses a similar method to protect itself from virus attacks.

Mechanism:
- The first task is to identify the particular sequence of genes that is the cause of the trouble.
- Once that is done, an RNA molecule is programmed to locate this sequence on the DNA strand, just like the ‘find’ or ‘search’ function on a computer.
- After this Cas9 is used to break the DNA strand at specific points, and remove the bad sequence.
- A DNA strand, when broken, has a natural tendency to re-attach and heal itself. But if the auto-repair mechanism is allowed to continue, the bad sequence can regrow.
  - So, scientists intervene during the auto-repair process by supplying the correct sequence of genetic codes, which attaches to the broken DNA strand.
    - It is like cutting out the damaged part of a long zipper, and replacing it with a normally functioning part.
- The entire process is programmable, and has remarkable efficiency, though the chances of error are not entirely ruled out.