ovarian cancer cells to identify cancer by capturing methylated DNA and exosomes. Professor Shiddiky said, “As the nanomaterials can be engineered according to the need for detecting a certain disease type, they are highly flexible and can be tuned for almost any kind of biological molecules that are relevant to detect specific diseases”.
Shiddiky claimed that the process was quick, more accurate, and economical than the existing detection methods, and that the nanobeads could be mass-produced in industrial cell factories, lowering the cost of analysis. He said, “The two-step strategy uses nanobeads to magnetically isolate the cancer biomarkers, such as methylated DNA or exosomes, from blood or tissue samples collected from cancer patients. The principle of detection of these biomarkers is based on the specificity of antibodies between the antibody and target molecules.”
In this case, exosomes represent protein-based biomarkers, while methylated DNA represents DNA-based biomarkers. He added, “This method represents a diagnostic platform that can be adapted to a wider variety of protein and DNA-based biomarkers to enable diagnosis of various diseases.”
According to Professor Rehm, with the increase in the frequency of chronic diseases, healthcare expenses, and unfulfilled healthcare requirements, the demand for point-of-care diagnostics and monitoring is also increasing. He said, “Huge research efforts have been devoted towards the development of technologies that can detect cancer at early stages. However, the main challenge that many health systems face is finding a method that is cheap, rapid and accurate. These nanomaterials could provide a way to overcome some of these challenges.”
Rehm claimed that the most traditional diagnostic approaches required costly biological kits and specialized equipment, limiting their usage in impoverished countries and other resource-constrained environments. He said, “Early diagnosis of cancer is critical for more effective treatment strongly improving prognosis of patients so it is important to develop versatile diagnostic platform technologies that are specific and sensitive to detect cancer.”
