New Test for Detecting Cancer Biomarkers Developed

A research team led by Florida State University chemists has developed a new test for detecting biological markers related to several types of cancer. This will be helpful in the effective detection of cancer and treatment plan for patients.

With a testing platform and samples, physicians can investigate potential leads, narrowing down their list of culprits to provide precise, effective treatment for cancer patients. The recent research published in Journal of the American Chemical Society offers a new solution.

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‘A new biosensor made of gold nanoparticles lights up in the presence of cancer biomarkers, could be another effective tool for cancer detection.’

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Researchers built a sensing platform made of a gold nanoparticle and molecules called peptides that are labeled with a dye. The components are connected by chemical bonds, and the gold nanoparticle keeps the dye from glowing in the presence of UV light.

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When a patient sample containing the enzyme MMP-14 — a biomarker for various types of cancers, but most commonly for breast cancer — is added, it breaks bonds in the peptides, separating a fragment with the dye from the gold. Without the gold to absorb the energy from the dye, the sample begins to glow.

The light glowing from the sample depends on the concentration of the enzyme and interaction time. By measuring that light, researchers can generate data that inform them if a cancer marker is present in a sample and at what levels.

Various tests already exist for examining whether a patient has cancer. This research is the first step toward developing a method that can test for a wider variety of cancers. Researchers tested their system with the MMP-14 enzyme but they plan to expand this research with work that matches more peptide chains with other enzyme cancer markers.

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With further development, it could allow scientists to use a single assessment to test for a variety of cancers at once. The platform they have designed applies to any enzyme.

Along with its applications for detecting disease, the research also sheds more light on how enzymes interact with peptides that are attached to nanoparticles and how the addition of enzymes affects the testing system.

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Cancer diagnosis is still a huge problem. Early detection has been a limiting factor. But the other aspect of this work was the ability to develop a platform that starts with a nanoparticle attached to a peptide labeled with a dye and understand the way they interact.

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Source-Eurekalert