Fast and on time
Researchers from the University of Turku, Finland, have developed a test for the detection of ovarian cancer, the sensitivity of which is 4.5 times higher than that of a conventional laboratory test. A simple test is based on the rapid detection of abnormal sugars in a blood sample.
Cancer antigen CA125 is used to detect ovarian cancer, but the method, unfortunately, does not work well for detecting the disease in the early stages. The specificity of the diagnosis can be significantly increased if the detection of CA125 is combined with the detection of aberrant carbohydrate structures in the tumor.
The goal of the research team led by Professor Kim Pettersson was to create a new test that would detect modified sugars in cancer tissue. A recently published article describes how a research team has developed a fast and sensitive diagnostic test that can detect ovarian cancer from a patient's blood sample.
Glycovariants can be used in the early diagnosis of cancer
Abnormal glycosylation of CA125 is a unique feature of ovarian cancer cells. With an easy-to-use and fast test developed during the study, ovarian cancer can be more accurately detected in a blood sample in 30 minutes. The test is a quantitative immunoassay of lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) aberrantly glycosylated CA125. It significantly exceeds the usual CA125 immunoassay (CA125IA): with a 30-minute analysis of blood samples with a low content of CA125, the LFIA method showed a sensitivity of 72% and a specificity of 98% compared to the 16% sensitivity of the CA125IA method.
The following goals are to expand the use of the diagnostic test and reach a large group of patients with other types of cancer, as well as to develop rapid tests for clinical use for early cancer diagnosis.
Article by S.Bayoumy et al. Glycovariant-based lateral flow immunoassay to detect ovarian cancer–associated serum CA125 is published in the journal Communications Biology.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the University of Turku: Rapid Test for Ovarian Cancer Detection Developed at the University of Turku.