Implantable biosensors and their contribution to the future of precision medicine

M Gray,J Meehan,C Ward,S.P Langdon,I.H Kunkler,A Murray,D Argyle

doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2018.07.011

Abstract

Precision medicine can be defined as the prevention, investigation and treatment of diseases taking individual variability into account. There are multiple ways in which the field of precision medicine may be advanced; however, recent innovations in the fields of electronics and microfabrication techniques have led to an increased interest in the use of implantable biosensors in precision medicine. Implantable biosensors are an important class of biosensors because of their ability to provide continuous data on the levels of a target analyte; this enables trends and changes in analyte levels over time to be monitored without any need for intervention from either the patient or clinician. As such, implantable biosensors have great potential in the diagnosis, monitoring, management and treatment of a variety of disease conditions. In this review, we describe precision medicine and the role implantable biosensors may have in this field, along with challenges in their clinical implementation due to the host immune responses they elicit within the body.

Highlights

Precision and personalised medicine are interchangeable terms, with similar concepts
Smart polymers, which have been produced to go through structural alterations when subjected to changes to external stimuli such as temperature or pH (Ngoepe et al, 2013) can be used as biosensors. They have the ability to deliver drugs when needed. One such example is the attachment of both glucose oxidase and insulin within a hydrogel that is responsive to changes in pH, enabling this smart polymer to act both as a sensor of glucose concentration and as a drug delivery vehicle for insulin (Traitel et al, 2000)
More research is required on the effects of implanting devices directly into tumours, the results published in this paper indicated that the foreign body response (FBR) may be decreased within tumours

Summary

Introduction

Precision and personalised medicine are interchangeable terms, with similar concepts. One such example is the attachment of both glucose oxidase and insulin within a hydrogel that is responsive to changes in pH, enabling this smart polymer to act both as a sensor of glucose concentration and as a drug delivery vehicle for insulin (Traitel et al, 2000) These types of biosensor-drug delivery systems can reduce the risk of overdosing/underdosing a patient whilst allowing the patient to receive the drug at a specific time point (Smolensky and Peppas, 2007). Veterinary-orientated human factor studies should help ensure that pet owners can use implanted devices (such as continuous glucose monitoring systems) safely and effectively, making informed treatment decisions based on sensor readings. The integration of these types of studies at the very beginning of any future projects would aid in a greater understanding of the disease process, and foster ways in which implantable sensor technology can be best developed to enhance patient treatment

Conclusions

Conflict of interest statement