description
- Coeliac disease, a lifelong disorder, has become one of the most common food intolerances. This is due to an autoimmune reaction trigged by the ingestion of gluten a protein present in wheat, rye, secalins and barley; resulting in chronic inflammation of the mucosa of the small intestine. This inflammation results, in the affected person, in several symptoms as: impaired growth, anemia, weight loss, unhappy behavior and malabsorption. Due to the wide clinical spectrum of Coeliac disease its asymptomatic diagnosis is extremely difficult; currently a biopsy of the small intestine and the evaluation of its conformational changes or lesions is the most reliable and commonly used diagnostic approach. Recently susceptibility to Coeliac disease has been shown to be strongly associated with the region of chromosome 6 that codes for the HLA (Human leukocyte antigen) antigens; DQ2 and DQ8 genotypes have been shown to be associated, in almost 100% of the cases, to this disease. Nano-particles have found large interest in electroanalysis due to their enhancement of mass transport, their catalytic properties and their high effective surface area. Recognition and signal generation are key elements in the performance of genosensors. Their integration in a single element is a very important area of research in genosensor technology. Molecular Beacon, short oligonucleotides chains engineered to perform as recognition element and signal generator, is an extremely attractive tool with respect to this need. The most common format of molecular beacon is the fluorescent but more recently electrochemical molecular beacon are gaining ground in the In this work an electrochemical DNA-chip, based on the combination of nano-particles and electrochemical molecular beacon will be developed and characterized and its application to high resolution HLA typing for Coeliac disease predisposition diagnosis will be investigated.