Development of Biosensor-type-DNA Chip for the Diagnosis of Cancer

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Development of a biosensor-type-DNA chip for the diagnosis of cancer is an objective of this research. To attain this objective, two lines of research projects were designed.For the first line of the project, we systematically examined expression profiles in the liver with various diseases including hepatocellular carcinoma. Over one hundred clinical materials were analyzed with home-made DNA chips, and the expression profile in each disease was demonstrated. This study revealed that a DNA chip analysis gives new information that cannot be obtained by routine biochemical and pathological examinations, and made the DNA chip be a new diagnostic technique, or a new tumor marker. Using serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE), over 300,000 expressed tags in the liver were obtained and deposited into databases. A DNA chip, which predicts the efficacy of drugs against chronic hepatitis C, was put on the market.Another line of the project is to make a biosensor-type-DNA chip, which can be used in routine clinical settings on site. Using microelectrodes on a chip, target nucleic acids can be measured in liquid (applied for a patent in 2001). A small-size thermal cycler for the introduction of measurement on microelectrodes was developed (applied for a patent in 2000). A DNA spotter on a microelectrode was also developed (pending for a patent). Using these successive developments, a biosensor-type-DNA chip, which is small-size, less expensive compared with former laser-detection-type DNA chips, and faster for the clinical diagnosis, was made.