Image of the paper-based isotachophoresis (ITP) device that isolates, enriches, and detects exosomes from a prostate cancer cell line.
Washington State University researchers have developed a technology that is more than 30 times more sensitive than current lab-based tests in finding early stage cancer biomarkers in blood.
The technology uses an electric field to concentrate and separate cancer biomarkers onto a paper strip. It could someday become a kind of liquid biopsy and could lead to earlier detection of and faster treatments for cancer, a disease that causes more than 9.6 million deaths a year around the world.
Led by Wenji Dong, associate professor in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, and graduate student Shuang Guo, the researchers were able to detect miniscule levels of the cancer markers in tiny extracellular bubbles called exosomes in as little as 10 minutes. Reporting on their work in the journal, Biosensors and Bioelectronics, the researchers call the work a “significant step” in developing rapid testing and early cancer detection.
Researchers have long sought ways to detect cancer earlier to save more lives. While lab tests to detect tumor biomarkers in blood have been developed, they often can’t find early-stage cancer because the cancer markers are at levels too low to detect. Instead, people most often find out they have cancer through invasive biopsies once tumors are established.In recent years, researchers have discovered that one of the ways cancer cells spread and communicate with other parts of the body is by way of tiny exosome vesicles in blood or other fluids. Ranging in size from 40 to 120 nanometers, or about 1000 times smaller in width than a strand of hair, the exosomes are thought to shuttle molecules from parent cancer cells through the body, entering and then re-programming friendly cells to become cancerous. Cancer cells also secrete more exosome bubbles than regular cells.
“Exosomes provide a unique opportunity as a cancer marker,” Dong said.
However, finding the cancer-filled exosomes in blood testing is challenging. They look the same as normal cell exosomes and other extracellular bubbles, and they are at very low levels in the blood in early cancer.
The WSU team for the first time applied a technology that uses an electric field to rapidly isolate, enrich and detect the exosomes taken from a prostate cancer cell line. The technology was able to concentrate and then separate the cancer-cell exosomes from those from normal cells by way of immune-binding. That is, the researchers captured the target exosomes by using an antibody that is specific to a protein marker on the exosome surface. The researchers were also able to separate out and analyze cancer protein markers within the exosomes. The technology was 33 times more sensitive than conventional methods that are used in research labs to detect and analyze exosomes.
“This has the potential to become a technique capable of concentrating samples by orders of magnitude in minutes,” Dong said.
The researchers demonstrated their technology successfully with a test serum. They are now working to improve it using a greater amount of human blood which, with a confusing mix of hormones, lipids, and other elements floating around, can create a challenging environment for successful testing. The researchers are also working to adjust the power requirements of the technology, so that it can be used portably and more easily in a medical setting.
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Cancer blood test
- Older age, smoking deemed most important risk factors for any type of cancer: study
Story at a glance Although a host of studies on risk factors for individual cancers exists, data are lacking with regard to developing any type of cancer at all. A new investigation of more than ...
- Guardant Health, Inc.: Guardant Still Going All-in on Pipeline Tests; Reducing FVE by 9% on Tempered Long-Term Growth
Find the latest Guardant Health, Inc. (GH) stock forecast based on top analyst's estimates, plus more investing and trading data from Yahoo Finance ...
- Life-changing blood test could pinpoint who is 43% more likely to die from cancer
CANCER is a pernicious and prevalent disease which can present in any part of the body at any time. One of the best ways to defeat cancer is to diagnose it early, and one of the best ways to do this ...
- Blood Protein May Help Predict Diabetes, Death From Cancer
In addition to this, prostasin levels were also significantly tied to new-onset diabetes, over the span of an average 22-year follow-up, period, the group wrote in Diabetologia. Compared with the ...
- Mathematical Modeling Could Lead to Simple Blood Tests for Brain Tumors
Researchers at the University of Bristol in the U.K. are exploring how mathematical modeling might be used in the development and use of blood-based biomarkers for brain tumors. The development of a ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Cancer blood test
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Cancer biomarkers
- Todos Medical Announces First Long COVID Clinic Laboratory Services Agreement for Long COVID Panel Biomarker Partnership with Amerimmune Diagnostics
RTHM collaborating on Tollovid™ 3CL inhibitor immune support supplement case studies Tollovid biomarker data to support potential structure-function claims in Long COVID New York, NY, and Tel Aviv, ...
- Genetics may predict bladder cancer immunotherapy response
Investigators have identified genetic signatures that could predict whether tumors in patients with bladder and other cancers will respond to immunotherapy.
- Viome Life Sciences Unveils CancerDetect™, the Future of Oral and Throat Cancer Detection
Viome Life Sciences, a mission-driven biotechnology company, announces the arrival of its CancerDetect ™ test for oral & throat cancer, the first to launch in a series of diagnostic tests in ...
- Genetic signatures may help predict immunotherapy response in patients with bladder cancer
Investigators from Cedars-Sinai Cancer have identified genetic signatures that could predict whether tumors in patients with bladder and other cancers will respond to immunotherapy.
- Groundbreaking CAP Guideline Clarifies Biomarker Testing, Impacts Multiple Cancer Types
A new College of American Pathologists (CAP) evidence-based guideline is among the first to address testing based less on the cancer type or tumor origin and more on the methodology and status of a ...