A study published today in the Journal of Dental Research outlines a potentially quicker and more cost-effective way to test for the Zika virus.
By analyzing the saliva of a pregnant mother infected with Zika and her twins, one born with microcephaly and one without, Walter Siqueira, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, Canada, and a team of international researchers, were able to pinpoint the specific protein signature for Zika that is present in saliva.
The mutations in the amino acid sequence of the peptides were different for each twin, suggesting that these mutations may play a role in whether or not a baby will develop microcephaly.
Currently, blood tests are used to look for changes to RNA in order to diagnose Zika. This method is only able to detect the virus up to five to seven days after exposure. According to Siqueira, because the proteins and the peptides that come directly from the virus are more stable than RNA, saliva proteomics can detect the virus far longer after exposure than with the traditional method. In this case, the window of detection was extended to nine months post-infection.
The findings could lead to the development of a diagnostic test for point-of-care detection. The researchers have received a provisional U.S. patent to develop a simple device that can be used to identify the Zika virus peptides in saliva outside of the laboratory