Screening test and procedure using apocrine sweat

Abstract

Marker compounds indicative of variations in physiological conditions, genetic defects or disease states have been found to be present in apocrine sweat and, in many conditions, these markers are present in apocrine sweat in elevated levels when compared to blood. These markers are collected and / or detected in apocrine sweat and used as an indicator that a disease state or particular physiological condition exists. A skin patch, wipe or other collection means is used to collect apocrine sweat. The apocrine sweat is then used to indicate the existence of a disease state or changing physiological condition by the presence of specific marker compounds. Apocrine sweat can also be collected from individuals known to have a specific disease or physiological condition and, by comparison with apocrine sweat from normal individuals, used to identify new markers indicative of the specific disease state or physiological condition.

Description

[0001] This is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 994, 535, filed Nov. 26, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. ______ issued ______, which claims benefit of Provisional Application 60 / 250, 206 filed Nov. 29, 2000.[0002] The present invention relates primarily to a test for diagnosing the existence of certain disease states or physiological conditions in mammals based on the collection and analysis of apocrine sweat.[0003] It is known that certain disease states or variations from normal physiological conditions can be detected or monitored by analyzing body fluids for variations in constituents of those body fluids. Blood is a highly complex suspension with many elements, which can be measured and analyzed to measure normal homeostasis and variations from normality. Blood is frequently analyzed for variations of various constituents (cholesterol, glucose, etc.), as well as its cellular constituents, as indicators of possible abnormal health conditions. In a like manner, a ur...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, he fails to recognize the unique diagnostic function of apocrine sweat glands and proceeds to collect eccrine sweat from the chest because large quantities of sweat can be collected.

However, the percentage of false negative results with the patches indicates that weekly sweat testing may be less sensitive than thrice weekly urine testing in detecting opiate use.

This is most likely because those skilled in the art selected an inappropriate source of sweat (eccrine sweat), not recognizing the unique diagnostic capacity of apocrine sweat.

Further, because of the extended wear requirement (up to 14 days), the ability to rapidly test for the presence of drugs using presently available sweat collection patches and procedures is not possible.

The requirement for such a procedure results in a major deficiency for diagnostic test strips as it is often desirable to be able to read the test strip on the patient or immediately upon removal of the test strip without performing a further analytical procedure.