Using a sensor made
of densely packed carbon nanotubes coated with gold nanoparticles, a researcher
team headed by James Rusling of the University of Connecticut has developed a
low-cost microfluidic device for detecting oral cancer. According to the
researchers, the device is readily adaptable to detecting other cancers.
Tests on samples obtained from 78 oral cancer patients
and 49 control subjects showed that the device has a clinical sensitivity of
89% and specificity of 98% for detecting oral cancer. Dr. Rusling and his
collaborators published their results in the journal Analytical
Chemistry. While other groups have also developed analytical methods that
produce similar promise for detecting blood-borne biomarkers of oral cancer,
these methods are based on time-consuming and expensive technologies.
The microfluidic device that Dr. Rusling's team developed
simultaneously detects extraordinarily low levels of four proteins that
together provide a diagnostic signature for oral cancer. Magnetic beads, each coated
with 120,000 antibody
molecules, are used to capture even trace levels of specific biomarker
proteins and remove them from a blood sample. The magnetic particles are
then injected into the microfluidic device, which flows the beads over the
sensor elements. Each sensor's electrical output corresponds to blood levels of
a specific protein.
According to the investigators, the entire assay takes 50
minutes to perform. Each disposable carbon nanotube sensor chip costs about $9.
The readout device uses available electronic components and pumps that together
cost under $26,000, which "makes this approach accessible to virtually any
biomedical laboratory at a small cost."
This work is detailed in a paper titled,
"Ultrasensitive detection of cancer biomarkers in the clinic using a
nanostructured microfluidic assay." Investigators from National Institute
of Dental and Craniofacial Research, Salve Regina University, the Cancer
Researcher Initiatives Foundation of Malaysia, and the University of Malaya
participated in this study.
An abstract of this paper is available at the
journal's website.
Provided by National Cancer
Institute
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