Scientists from Nagoya University in Japan have developed a novel nanowire device capable of detecting microscopic levels of cancer markers in the urine, which could help improve the diagnosis and treatment of the deadly disease.
Next technology challenges in medical fields
The developed device showed the potential to efficiently capture the extracellular vesicles (EV) of the urine and determine, with a simple test, if the person suffers from the disease.
In this regard, Dr. Takao Yasui, lead author of the study, comments:
The constant challenge for physicians in any field is to find a non-invasive diagnostic tool that allows them to monitor their patients on a regular basis, for example, a simple urine test.
The new device, embedded with zinc oxide nanowires in a functional polymer. That is proved to be highly efficient in capturing the extracellular vesicles. The researchers recorded a collection rate of over 99 percent, surpassing ultracentrifugation.
By using the device, scientists were able to differentiate more than a thousand types of microRNAs. That are small pieces of ribonucleic acid that play diverse roles in normal cell biology. The presence of individual microRNAs in the urine. That could serve as a warning signal of severe conditions such as bladder and prostate cancer.
And for testing, the team compared EV microRNAs isolated from healthy patients with those from ones who had already have the diagnosis of bladder cancer, prostate cancer and other forms of the disease. Compared to the standard approach, they found a substantially. That are the more significant number and different types of microRNAs with only 1 milliliter of urine.
How is cancer detected?
The researchers point out that finding a specific and reproducible marker to help confirm a diagnosis of cancer is difficult. That is especially true for microRNAs, which are a relatively new class of tags in the field.
The findings are preliminary, of course, but researchers hope the device can help lay the groundwork. That is for the development of new and more comfortable ways to diagnose diseases.