Cambridge Nutranostics Has Developed a Point-of-care Prototype of OCCL Test for Testing Blood plasma oxygen to monitor health in post stroke and TIA patients for dementia prevention

CAMBRIDGE, England, April 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Cambridge Nutranostics Ltd, CNL, has begun validation in clinic of its first test prototype to assess and monitor plasma oxygen, the part of the total blood O₂, which can cross the capillary wall and deliver this essential gas for tissue cell respiration.

Medical researchers from Cambridge University, Papworth Hospital and led by Dr Ivan Petyaev, published their discovery that extracellular lipids, lipoproteins, can be the main oxygen carrier in blood plasma. It was found that a decline in OCCL, a reduction of oxygen supply to tissues, might contribute to depression of their functions and development of tissue hypoxia.

CNL has now successfully completed the conversion of the established laboratory format OCCL test to its express dry chemistry-based point-of-care diagnostic, the first affordable test of its kind able to be used not only by any health care practitioner but also by an untrained person at home. This test would require only one drop of capillary blood and provide results within minutes.

One of the company’s first marketing targets is people at risk of developing dementia and in particular those who have already experienced hypoxic or ischemic clinical events such as a stroke or a transient ischemic attack, TIA. Around 78 million people globally and 1 person out of 5 of 65 years or older in Japan will have dementia in 2030.

Stroke or TIA as an acute oxygen deprivation shock to the brain makes it more vulnerable and susceptible to future cerebral hypoxia accompanying development of dementia. Approximately 30% of stroke patients go on to develop cognitive dysfunction within 3 years.

The OCCL point-of-care test would allow a health care practitioner or the person himself or herself, to assess the level of plasma oxygen and detect its potential changes, which may not have any other clinical manifestations. Early diagnosis of these changes may trigger additional medical examination and allow measures to be taken to improve tissue oxygenation.

The company is expecting to launch this test in the first half of 2023. Alexey Shulepov, the CEO of CNL, says “the company is proud to develop this test to help to prevent the development of dementia and reduce its impact on people’s lives in every country”.

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GeneOnline