Aptamer-assisted isolation and analysis of tumor-derived exosomes in urine and saliva

癌症的有效诊断和预后取决于从低浓度的临床标本中定量测量癌症生物标记物的能力。肿瘤衍生的外切体(Tex)携带高浓度的肿瘤生物标志物，已成为癌症早期检测和抗癌治疗监测的一种很有前途的肿瘤生物标志物来源。由于外切体是稳定的膜体，它们保护用作生物标记物的蛋白质和核酸在唾液和尿液中不被降解。此外，与体液中低丰度的生物分子相比，TeX更容易收集和浓缩。在这个项目中，渥太华大学的Berezovski研究团队和加拿大医疗器械公司iNANO Medical Inc.将开发一种诊断设备，用于分析唾液和尿液中肿瘤衍生的外切体。该设备将依靠DNA适体捕获并浓缩包含蛋白质和核酸癌症生物标记物的外切体，具有远程表面等离子体-极化检测的微型机电系统将使生物标记物的定量报告成为可能。这种基于微芯片的快速、灵敏和非侵入性的诊断设备将允许对癌症进行常规检测，确定疾病的严重程度，从而提供高质量的诊断来指导临床决策和治疗。这项创新的临床诊断技术将加速iNANO的产品开发，对加拿大医疗保健产生积极影响，并提高患者的癌症管理质量。

The effective diagnosis and prognosis of cancer depends on the ability to quantitatively measure cancer biomarkers from clinical samples at low concentrations. Tumor-derived exosomes (TEX) have emerged as a promising source of cancer biomarkers for both early cancer detection and anti-cancer treatment monitoring, since TEX carry the cancer biomarkers at high concentration. Because exosomes are stable membrane bodies, they protect the proteins and nucleic acids used as biomarkers from degradation in saliva and urine. Also, TEX can be more easily collected and enriched compared to low abundance biomolecules in body fluids.In this project, the Berezovski research team at the University of Ottawa and a Canadian medical device company, iNano Medical Incorporated, will develop a diagnostic device for analysis of tumor-derived exosomes in saliva and urine. The device will rely on DNA aptamers to capture and concentrate the exosomes containing the protein and nucleic acid cancer biomarkers, and a microelectromechanical system with long-range surface plasmon-polariton detection will enable quantitative reporting of the biomarkers. This microchip-based, rapid, sensitive, and non-invasive diagnostic device would allow routine testing for cancer detection, determination of the severity of the disease, thus providing high quality diagnosis to guide clinical decision and treatments. This innovative clinical diagnostic technology will accelerate iNano's product development, positively impact Canadian healthcare, and improve the quality of cancer management for patients.