Scientists from the Institute of Biomedical Chemistry named after V.N. Orekhovich (IBMC) patented an invention for the early diagnosis of cancer. What is the essence of the method, the researchers themselves shared with aif.ru.
Why is there a need for a new method? According to doctors, the main reason for the high mortality from cancer is late detection. Widely known diagnostic methods – CT, MRI, ultrasound, biopsy – are not always able to help recognize cancer in the patient’s body in advance. Therefore, today scientists are improving methods for detecting cancer, seeking to combine accuracy, high speed and low invasiveness (that is, a minimum of trauma during intervention). Today, methods for diagnosing oncological diseases using biosensors based on a nanowire detector (NP-biosensor) are considered promising. They allow you to register protein markers in the patient’s blood at low concentrations, when the pathological process is at an early stage. In addition to high sensitivity, this system allows for real-time analysis without the use of labeled antibodies: such antibodies often signal inflammation in the body, not specifically cancer.
IBMC scientists have patented a method for early cancer detection by identifying a special region of nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) associated with the development of cancer. The results of testing the device for three types of cancer – colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and glioma – showed that the sensitivity of the method is superior to methods that are currently used in clinical practice.
“For diagnostics, the patient’s blood is taken, RNA is isolated from it, probes are installed on the chip that are complementary to the selected RNA. The chip is kept in a solution with RNA isolated from the patient’s blood, the signal is registered and processed,” explained the principle of operation of the device. Yury Ivanov, Head of the Laboratory of Nanobiotechnology at IBMC.
The work is carried out with the financial support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation within the framework of the world-class scientific center (NCMU) “Digital Biodesign and Personalized Health Care”. NCMU was created within the framework of the national project “Science and Universities”.
Source: aif.ru
