The University of Missouri’s research team comprising medical scientists and biological engineers has used nanopore technology as a tool to detect lung cancer early.
The research team has reported its process in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. According to Michael Wang, one of the researchers, the research team has developed an ultrasensitive technology that is able to determine a particular molecule related to lung cancer in the bloodstream.
Michael Wang, M.D., Ph.D., right, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences, and Li-Qun Gu, Ph.D., associate professor of biological engineering. Credit: University of Missouri School of Medicine
The research team utilized blood plasma samples to determine a change in a particular microRNA molecule, which is normally found in higher quantities in lung cancer patients. The team placed a blood plasma extract via a protein-based nanopore, which is a minute hole in a thin membrane through which a single molecule can easily be navigated. When an ionic current is applied to the nanopore, the team measured the variations in the current that happen due to the presence of lung cancer-associated microRNA molecule.
Li-Qun Gu, the University of Missouri’s associate professor of biological engineering, stated that the modified current functions as a bio-signature or indicator to lung cancer. The novel nanopore sensor is sensitive and selective and can effectively determine microRNAs in plasma samples of lung cancer patients at the single molecular level, he added.
Gu further said that the University of Missouri research team has for the first time used nanopore technology to determine lung cancer even though there are numerous labs dealing with nanopore applications. In the future, this novel technology is able to determine other types of cancer and diseases with unique RNA or DNA in the blood, he added.