We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
ZeptoMetrix an Antylia scientific company

Download Mobile App




Biosensor Detects Brain Tumors with Less Than a Drop of Blood

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 29 Sep 2022
Print article
Image: A new biosensor could precisely diagnose brain cancer from minute blood sample (Photo courtesy of Unsplash)
Image: A new biosensor could precisely diagnose brain cancer from minute blood sample (Photo courtesy of Unsplash)

Despite significant advances, mortality from brain tumors remains high with five-year survival rates of 36%. More accurate diagnoses might improve the situation. To effectively treat brain cancer, physicians need to not only confirm the presence of a malignant tumor but also identify whether it originated there (primary tumor) or moved to the brain (secondary tumor) from other organs. Physicians also need to know where in the organ the tumor is located. However, tissue biopsies are invasive and can miss important information about a tumor’s make-up. Imaging-based methods, meanwhile, do not offer sufficient sensitivity and resolution. Now, researchers have developed a biosensor that could help physicians precisely diagnose brain cancer from a minute blood sample.

In order to develop a noninvasive test using a tiny amount of serum that would avoid surgery or a painful spinal tap, researchers at the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology (I BEST, Toronto, Canada) used high-intensity laser beams to form 3D nickel-nickel oxide nanolayers on a nickel chip. This process resulted in an ultrasensitive biosensor that allowed them to detect minute amounts of tumor-derived materials, such as nucleic acids, proteins and lipids, that made it through the blood-brain-barrier into the circulation. The sensor detected these components using a method known as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, which generated molecular profiles, or fingerprints, for each sample. The researchers then analyzed these profiles with a DEEP neural network to find evidence of a brain tumor and define its type, as well as predict its location within the brain.

Using the liquid biopsy platform, the researchers could detect brain cancer from just five microliters of blood serum, and they could distinguish it from breast, lung and colorectal cancer with 100% specificity and sensitivity. They had similar success distinguishing primary brain tumors from secondary tumors that had metastasized to the brain from the lung or breast. Profile analysis also allowed the researchers to determine in which of nine brain compartments the tumor resided with 96% accuracy. The noninvasive nature of the test should allow healthcare specialists to monitor cancer development over time so they can make better treatment decisions, the researchers say.

Related Links:
I BEST 

New
Gold Member
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Test
hCG Quantitative - R012
Verification Panels for Assay Development & QC
Seroconversion Panels
New
HbA1c Test
HbA1c Rapid Test
New
Ultra-Low Temperature Freezer
iUF118-GX

Print article

Channels

Clinical Chemistry

view channel
Image: The GlycoLocate platform uses multi-omics and advanced computational biology algorithms to diagnose early-stage cancers (Photo courtesy of AOA Dx)

AI-Powered Blood Test Accurately Detects Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer ranks as the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women, largely due to late-stage diagnoses. Although over 90% of women exhibit symptoms in Stage I, only 20% are diagnosed in... Read more

Immunology

view channel
Image: The cancer stem cell test can accurately choose more effective treatments (Photo courtesy of University of Cincinnati)

Stem Cell Test Predicts Treatment Outcome for Patients with Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer

Epithelial ovarian cancer frequently responds to chemotherapy initially, but eventually, the tumor develops resistance to the therapy, leading to regrowth. This resistance is partially due to the activation... Read more

Technology

view channel
Image: The new algorithms can help predict which patients have undiagnosed cancer (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Advanced Predictive Algorithms Identify Patients Having Undiagnosed Cancer

Two newly developed advanced predictive algorithms leverage a person’s health conditions and basic blood test results to accurately predict the likelihood of having an undiagnosed cancer, including ch... Read more

Industry

view channel
Image: The collaboration aims to leverage Oxford Nanopore\'s sequencing platform and Cepheid\'s GeneXpert system to advance the field of sequencing for infectious diseases (Photo courtesy of Cepheid)

Cepheid and Oxford Nanopore Technologies Partner on Advancing Automated Sequencing-Based Solutions

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a leading molecular diagnostics company, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (Oxford, UK), the company behind a new generation of sequencing-based molecular analysis technologies,... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.