Diagnosis by exosomes
There is a technology for detecting cancer by blood analysis at the earliest stage
Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+
The new blood test for cancer is 30 times more sensitive than analogues. The technology was developed by American scientists from Washington State University. It is based on the identification of exosomes in the patient's blood. In just a few minutes, the test can detect cancer at the earliest stage due to its special sensitivity.
Article by Guo et al. Paper-based ITP technology: An application to specific cancer-derived exosome detection and analysis is published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics – VM.
One of the mechanisms of the spread of tumor cells and their interaction with healthy cells are exosomes. These microscopic vesicles, or vesicles, are secreted by various types of cells, and cancer cells do this especially intensively. Given that exosomes represent a unique opportunity for cancer diagnosis, scientists began working on a new test system.
Finding cancer exosomes in a blood sample is not an easy task, because it is difficult to distinguish them from ordinary ones. In addition, the concentration of the new biomarker at the initial stages of tumor development is very low.
The new technology uses an electric field, namely the isotachophoresis method, to quickly detect and isolate exosomes on a paper test strip. To identify and separate cancer vesicles, scientists used antibodies for a specific protein on the surface of exosomes.
The technology is 33 times more sensitive than modern methods for detecting and analyzing exosomes. It took 10 minutes to get the result.
"The results open up new opportunities in the development of rapid cancer testing at the earliest stages," the authors said.
This experiment was performed on blood samples of patients with prostate cancer. Now the team is working on improving the method to even more accurately identify the biomarker in the blood for various oncological diseases. It is planned that the test system will be portable and easy to use.
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