Advanced detector for rapid diagnosis of cancer

A simple and extremely sensitive microRNA detector that was recently developed could be used for new diagnostic methods, and eventually, also for the assessment of risks and the more effective treatment of various types of cancer

[Translation by Dr. Nachmani Moshe]
A simple and extremely sensitive microRNA detector that was recently developed could be used for new diagnostic methods, and eventually, also for the more effective risk assessment and treatment of various types of cancer.

A simple and extremely sensitive detector for microRNA that has just been developed and successfully tested by researchers from the School of Science and Medicine at Indiana University, could be used for the development of new diagnostic methods, and eventually, also for the assessment of risks and the treatment of various types of cancer.

In a study published in the scientific journal ACS Nano, the scientists describe their innovative detector that was able to diagnose pancreatic cancer or testify to the existence of a benign condition by quantifying changes in the levels of microRNA molecules associated with the formation of pancreatic cancer. MicroRNAs are small RNA molecules that control the activity of larger RNA molecules while these regulate the expression of the corresponding proteins. As such, microRNA molecules are very important in the field of biology and in disease diagnosis. "We used the basic ideas of nanotechnology to design a detector that can detect and quantify the presence of biomolecules in extremely low concentrations," said Professor Rajesh Sardar who developed the detector. "We have developed a particularly sensitive method that allows us to detect minute changes in the concentrations of microRNA molecules in a subject's blood and verify the very existence of pancreatic cancer." "If we can determine that there is indeed pancreatic cancer thanks to the detection of high concentrations of a specific microRNA associated with this type of cancer, then we can treat it at an earlier stage," said one of the researchers.

"The method is especially important and useful for diagnosing types of cancer, such as pancreatic cancer, in which the symptoms are hidden from the patient for many years, when after this period it has already spread to other organs, surgical operation is no longer a viable option and the treatment options are more limited," explains the lead researcher. "For example, a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer at an early stage of the disease, after which a surgical operation is performed to remove it, leads to 5-year survival with a probability of 40%. In contrast, a diagnosis of metastatic pancreatic cancer leads to an expected life expectancy of only less than one year. In the past decade, many studies have proven that microRNA molecules play an important role in the development of many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. The new detector will be able to detect changes in the concentrations of microRNA molecules in each of these diseases.

The detector itself consists of a small chip of glass that includes gold nanoparticles in the shape of triangles called 'nanoprisms'. After immersing this chip in a blood sample, or in any other body fluid, the researchers are able to measure the changes in the optical properties of the nanoprisms in order to determine the exact concentrations of specific microRNA molecules. "It seems that the use of gold nanoprisms is expensive, but this is not the case, this is in light of the fact that the particles are very tiny," explains the lead researcher. The news about the study
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