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Self-amplified photonic biosensing platform for microRNA-based early diagnosis of diseases

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A point-of-care device for early cancer detection

According to the World Health Organisation, approximately 7.5 million people around the world die of cancer every year. European researchers have worked on the development of an innovative point-of-care (POC) device for detecting cancer biomarkers.

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Considering that early cancer detection is paramount to survival, there is an imminent need for tools to facilitate preventive screening programmes. MicroRNAs comprise a class of small non-coding RNAs that are deregulated in many human diseases including cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Therefore, microRNAs can essentially serve as biomarkers for prompt disease diagnosis. The EU-funded SAPHELY project focused on the development of a portable POC device capable of detecting cancer-specific microRNAs. “Our aim was to be able to detect cancer in a fast and ultra-sensitive way through the analysis of a few drops of patient blood,″ explains project coordinator Dr Jaime García-Rupérez. An innovative sensitive design Researchers employed nanophotonic technology to develop the sensing elements for the SAPHELY analysis cartridge. To recognise short sequence oligonucleotides with high sensitivity, they worked on the use of molecular beacon probes attached to nanoparticles. The sensor surface detected the displacement of nanoparticles upon hybridisation of the target microRNAs to the probe. That use of the conformational change of the molecular beacon probes as an additional mechanism to modulate the sensing response is one of the main innovations of the SAPHELY design, which can be used to increase the sensitivity of the sensor. The SAPHELY POC device also includes the steps required for extracting the target microRNAs from the patient’s blood sample before it can detect them with the nanophotonic sensing chip. “The advantage of the SAPHELY approach is that it avoids the use of complex PCR-based amplification methods or labelling processes, which are difficult to implement on-chip,″ continues Dr García-Rupérez. Additionally, the cartridge is automatically operated and interrogated using a compact benchtop readout device, overcoming the use of expensive, bulky and heavy equipment. Focusing on breast, prostate, lung and colorectal cancer, SAPHELY researchers managed to define reduced panels of microRNA biomarkers for these cancer varieties while reaching diagnosis accuracies above 90 %. The future for SAPHELY So far the SAPHELY technology has reached a quasi-commercial format, with fabrication of the photonic chips and the cartridge in formats compatible for mass-production. They successfully developed steps necessary for analysis of the data alongside a compact platform for automated operation. The POC device will have a low cost, significantly helping in the implementation of mass screening programmes. Researchers have faced various technical challenges associated with the complex nature of blood samples, which leads to non-specific interference. The prototype device has not yet achieved the required sensitivity for detecting the extremely small concentrations of microRNA biomarkers in blood. Despite the fact that clinical evaluation of the technology is still pending, SAPHELY partners have secured low-cost production of the POC device. They are hoping to evolve the prototype to a real product once analysis performance is optimised. Dr García-Rupérez is confident that “the SAPHELY device will greatly impact cancer diagnosis and clinical management, reducing also costs of treatments, and increasing survival rates.″ Moreover, the platform can be applied in other fields where detection of certain substances is required such as in environmental monitoring, food control, or chemical/biological security.

Keywords

SAPHELY, cancer, microRNA, point-of-care (POC), biomarker, cartridge, nanophotonic, molecular beacon probe

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