Lab-On-Chip Enables Early And Efficient Cancer Analysis
By Chuck Seegert, Ph.D.
Analyzing tumors may now be something that can be done in minutes with only a drop of blood thanks to research from Kansas University. The advance may enable the detection of tumors before they can be detected with many other imaging techniques.
Many cell types will encapsulate small amounts of cytosolic molecules into small, fluid-filled vesicles or exosomes. These small sacs break off from the surface of the cell and end up delivering molecular messages to the surrounding tissues when they are absorbed. While many normal cell types generate exosomes, it is also known that tumor cells will make them as well. Using these tumor-based exosomes to study cancer and other diseases has been a goal for some time.
“First described in the mid-'80s, they were once thought to be ‘cell dust,’ or trash bags containing unwanted cellular contents,” said Yong Zeng, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Kansas, in a recent press release. “However, in the past decade scientists realized that exosomes play important roles in many biological functions through capsuling and delivering molecular messages in the form of nucleic acids and proteins from the donor cells to affect the functions of nearby or distant cells. In other words, this forms a crucial pathway in which cells talk to others.”
Exosomal cancer detection has not taken off, however, due to the laborious methods required to isolate exosomes, which, according to the press release, are only 30 to 150 nanometers in size. The small size of the exosomes, combined with the large quantities required for existing analysis methods, makes the approach cumbersome and unrealistic.
The new lab-on-chip method from Zeng’s laboratory, however, only requires 30 microliters of blood, according to a study the team published in the Royal Society of Chemistry. This method provides increased sensitivity as well, and can generate results in about 100 minutes.
“A lab-on-a-chip shrinks the pipettes, test tubes and analysis instruments of a modern chemistry lab onto a microchip-sized wafer,” Zeng said in the press release. “Also referred to as ‘microfluidics’ technology, it was inspired by revolutionary semiconductor electronics and has been under intensive development since the 1990s. Essentially, it allows precise manipulation of minuscule fluid volumes down to one trillionth of a liter or less to carry out multiple laboratory functions, such as sample purification, running of chemical and biological reactions, and analytical measurement.”
Microfluidics and lab-on-chip designs are increasingly becoming the focus for research teams worldwide. Recently, another team used a lab-on-chip for the early detection of cancer via proteins. Another team has been developing options for lab-on-chip chemical analysis that may extend the reaction capabilities of these compact devices.