Early detection of disease through relatively non-invasive blood tests

Blood can tell you a lot about how your body works
.
For example, heart disease, diabetes, and anemia are just some of the conditions
that doctors can currently diagnose from a simple blood test.
But other diseases are less easy to spot and require invasive procedures, such as extracting spinal fluid or tissue biopsies, to diagnose the disease
at an early stage.
Here are some recent papers published in the journal ACS reporting on advances
in early detection of the disease through relatively non-invasive blood testing.
Journalists can request free access to these papers
via email newsroom@acs.
org.

Early detection of Alzheimer's disease is crucial because it allows patients to stay one step
ahead of treatment.
Current methods are either invasive, less accurate, or expensive
.
Here, the researchers developed a field-effect transistor biosensor that uses carbon nanotube films and short segments of nucleic acids called aptamers as receptors for two β-amyloid peptides
.
The blood test using the sensing platform detected low levels of two Alzheimer's disease-related biomarkers in human serum, with high accuracy and sensitivity, superior to previously reported sensing methods
, the researchers said.

Covalent biosensing polymer chain reaction enables peripheral blood tests to predict tumor aggressiveness of platelet precancerous proteinsAnalytical chemistryJan 17, 2022Detection of molecules in the bloodstream can help doctors detect tumors
before they establish a second site.
As tumor cells travel through the bloodstream, they overexpress a protein called local adhesion kinase (FAK), and platelets that express FAK on their surface adhere to
the cells.
The researchers simplified three existing FAK screening techniques into one blood test
.
Tightly attached to the protein with an inhibitor, the researchers allowed the researchers to process the sample harshly, remove interfering molecules, and then amplify the signal
with a polymerase chain reaction, known as PCR.
Through electrochemistry, the sensor can sensitively detect proteins
in serum samples from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is one of
the most common cancers in men living in the United States.
But for now, early detection requires blood tests, and if the result is positive, the next step is invasive tests and tissue biopsies
.
In addition, both false positives and negatives are common
.
Here, the researchers created a tapered fiber-optic plasma biosensor with a metal gold triangle nanomembrane
.
In a proof-of-concept experiment, it detected a group of prostate-cancer-associated microRNAs (miRNAs)
in serum samples from 7 patients.
The biosensor is highly specific and sensitive, and the researchers say it could also be used for early diagnosis
of other diseases.

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.
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C.
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