The Scientists at The University of Texas at El Paso developed a portable device that can detect colorectal and prostate cancer quicker than recent methods. The device may be especially useful in developing countries, where cancer mortality rates are higher in part because of barriers to diagnosis, the team says.
“Our new biochip device is sensitive and low cost – less than a few dollars – making an accurate disease diagnosis possible for the rich or poor,” said XiuJun (James) Li, Ph.D., a UTEP professor of chemistry and biochemistry. “
It is portable, rapid and does not require special equipment.” The new study, by lead author Li, was posted to Lab on a Chip, a journal covering microscale and nanoscale devices, and describes the device.
The commercial method used most commonly in cancer biomarker detection, ELISA, takes twelve hours or longer to run a sample, and needs expensive instrumentation, Li said.
He said in rural areas of the U.S., or developing countries, patient samples must be transported to larger cities to use specialised instruments and this delay in obtaining data heightens the already high cancer mortality rate.
“You detect biomarkers early on, before the cancer has spread — that increases a patient’s chance for survival,” Li said. “Delayed testing, especially where the patient has limited access to expensive tools and instruments can be very bad for a patient’s prognosis.”
An innovative “paper-in-polymer-pond” structure utilises tiny wells into which patient blood samples are introduced onto a special type of paper.
In a matter of just a few minutes, the paper captures cancer protein biomarkers within the blood samples. The paper then changes colour and how much colour indicates what type of cancer was detected and how much of a ‘progression’ it had.
The device is able to analyse a sample in an hour versus 16 hours in some traditional methods, Li said. Even without using specialised instruments, the device is about 10 times more sensitive than traditional methods, the study found.
It means that the device can begin to detect cancer biomarkers in much smaller quantities, signature of cancer in its early stages. Li said a less sensitive device may not pick up on the smaller quantities.
Reduced detection times and cheaper instruments are highly desirable for point-of-care diagnostics, and Dr. XiuJun Li’s innovation significantly improves them, said Robert Kirken, dean of the College of Science.
“It also lends itself nicely to resource-poor environments where it can be used as an early diagnosis tool with the potential to dramatically improve cancer outcomes.”
Reference: Timilsina SS, Li X. A Reusable Paper-in-Polymer-Pond (PiPP) Hybrid Microfluidic Microplate for Multiplexed Ultrasensitive Detection of Cancer Biomarkers. Lab on a Chip
