Licensing Opportunities

Electrochemical Analysis of Coenzyme Q10 and Reduced Coenzyme Q10

Background

  • Coenzyme Q10 ("CoQ10"), commonly known as ubiquinone-10, is present in blood and all body tissues in reduced and oxidized forms.
  • CoQ10 functions in the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) as an electron acceptor and donor. 
  • Recent reports suggest that the percentage of reduced CoQ10 (CoQ10H2) in total plasma concentration of CoQ10 may be lower within patients that have atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia and coronary artery disease, and may be a useful biomarker of oxidative stress in patients as well.
  • Effective measurement of CoQ10H2 and CoQ10 is important for clinical diagnosis.
  • CoQ10H2 stability causes problems with the measurements as it is easily oxidized when exposed to air and susceptible to pre-analytical degredation and analytical error.
  • The current invention, which offers a simple and rapid procedure for the determination of CoQ10 and CoQ10H2 in human samples, provides a better diagnostic method.

Description of Current Technology

Developed at Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation (CCRF) by Peter H. Tang, PhD, Ton J. deGrauw, MD, PhD, and Michael V. Miles, PharmD, the current invention is a new method of electrochemical analysis of an aqueous solution containing materials that have quinine and hydroquinone moieties.  Specifically, it is an electrochemical apparatus and method for the simultaneous measurements of CoQ10 concentrations in human plasma samples.  In its broadest sense, electrochemically reversible materials are those which can be oxidized and/or reduced by the transfer of electrons.  There may also be the transfer of protons as well in order to form a chemically neutral species as the final product of the electron transfer reaction.  The detection method in this invention is sufficiently sensitive to permit the fluid sample to be as small as 100uL, and the yield of electrochemical reduction is approximately 99%.  Physically, the invention consists of an HPLC instrument, which includes a solvent delivery module (pump), an injector, inline filters, guard column and an analytical HPLC column for separation of the materials.

Objective

The Research Foundation is seeking a corporate partner to commercialize this diagnostic device.  Appropriate U.S. and foreign patents applications have been filed.  The U.S. application has been published at US2002/0125193 A1.

Contact

To receive furthur confidential information to assist in evaluating this opportunity, please contact:

Joseph D. Fondacaro, PhD
Director, Office of Intellectual Property & Venture Development
Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation
Mail Location 7032
3333 Burnet Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio 45229-3039
Phone: 513-636-7695
Fax: 513-636-8453
Email: jdfonda@cchmc.org

Related Study Information
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