Scientists develop urine test to detect brain cancer early

Scientists have developed a new brain tumour testing platform that detects biomarkers in urine using nanowires.

Brain Cancer: Brain Cancer Detection by Urine Test

The nanowires used to detect brain tumours as seen under a microsocope. (Image credit: Nagoya University)

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Scientists from Nagoya University in Japan have developed a new device that they say can identify a key membrane protein in urine to indicate whether a patient has a brain tumour. This protein can potentially be used to detect brain cancer without the need for invasive tests while increasing the likelihood of tumours being detected early enough for surgery.

According to Nagoya University, the survival rate for brain tumours has remained virtually unchanged for over 30 years, and this is partly due to late detection. Often, physicians only discover brain tumours after the onset of neurological symptoms like the loss of movement of speech. By this time, the tumour will reach a considerable size.

One indication that a person has a brain tumour is the presence of tumour-related extracellular vesicles (EVs) in their urine. Not to be confused with electric vehicles, these EVs are nano-sized membranes filled with liquid involved in many functions, including cell-to-cell communication.

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“Currently, EV isolation and detection methods require more than two instruments and an assay to isolate and then detect EVs,” said Yasui. “The all-in-one nanowire assay can isolate and detect EVs using one simple procedure. In the future, users can run samples through our assay and change the detection part, by selectively modifying it to detect specific membrane proteins or miRNAs inside EVs to detect other types of cancer,” said Takao Yasui, lead author of the study published in ACS Nano, in a press statement.

Even though these EVs are excreted by the brain, many of them from cancer cells exist stably and are passed out along with urine without breaking down. To detect these, the researchers built an analysis platform that uses nanowires at the bottom of a well plate. Using this device, they were able to identify two specific types of EV membranes in urine samples of brain tumour patients.

According to Yasui, urine tests can be an effective, simple, and non-invasive method to detect brain cancer because urine contains many tell-tale biomolecules that can be traced back to identify the disease.

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brain cancer