| Jun 29, 2012 |
Nanostructured sensors power novel cancer detection system
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(Nanowerk News) Using a sensor made of densely packed carbon nanotubes coated with gold nanoparticles, a researcher team headed by James Rusling of the University of Connecticut has developed a low-cost microfluidic device for detecting oral cancer. According to the researchers, the device is readily adaptable to detecting other cancers.
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Tests on samples obtained from 78 oral cancer patients and 49 control subjects showed that the device has a clinical sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 98% for detecting oral cancer. Dr. Rusling and his collaborators published their results in the journal Analytical Chemistry ("Ultrasensitive Detection of Cancer Biomarkers in the Clinic using a Nanostructured Microfluidic Array"). While other groups have also developed analytical methods that produce similar promise for detecting blood-borne biomarkers of oral cancer, these methods are based on time-consuming and expensive technologies.
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The microfluidic device that Dr. Rusling's team developed simultaneously detects extraordinarily low levels of four proteins that together provide a diagnostic signature for oral cancer. Magnetic beads, each coated with 120,000 antibody molecules, are used to capture even trace levels of specific biomarker proteins and remove them from a blood sample. The magnetic particles are then injected into the microfluidic device, which flows the beads over the sensor elements. Each sensor's electrical output corresponds to blood levels of a specific protein.
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According to the investigators, the entire assay takes 50 minutes to perform. Each disposable carbon nanotube sensor chip costs about $9. The readout device uses available electronic components and pumps that together cost under $26,000, which "makes this approach accessible to virtually any biomedical laboratory at a small cost."
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