Scientists Create a New Device to Detect Brain Tumors Using Urine

At Nagoya University in Japan, researchers have used a new device to spot an essential membrane protein in the urine, indicating whether the patient has a brain tumors.

This protein could be utilized to spot brain cancer, preventing the need for invasive tests and enhancing the probability of tumors being identified early enough for surgery. This study could also have potential effects for identifying other sorts of cancer. The research was published in ACS Nano.

Although the early discovery of numerous kinds of cancer has contributed to the recent rise in cancer survival rates, the survival rate for brain tumors has remained relatively unchanged for over 20 years. Partly this is because of their late discovery.

How do Physicians Discover Brain Tumors?

Physicians usually discover brain tumors only after the onset of neurological signs, such as loss of motion or speech, by which time the tumor has reached a substantial size. Spotting the tumor when it is still tiny and beginning treatment as soon as possible should assist in saving lives.

One possible symptom that a person has a brain tumor is the presence of tumor-related extracellular blisters (EVs) in their urine. EVs are nano-sized blisters associated with various functions, including cell-to-cell communication. Considering that those discovered in brain cancer patients have specific sorts of membrane proteins and RNA, they could be used to identify the presence of cancer and its progression.

Many EVs from cancer cells exist stably and are expelled in the pee without breaking down, although they are expelled far from the brain. Associate Professor Takao Yasui of Nagoya University Graduate School of Engineering explains Pee testing has many benefits.

“Liquid biopsy can be performed using numerous body fluids, but blood tests are intrusive,” he said. “Urine tests are an effective, easy, and non-invasive method since the urine contains many informative biomolecules that can be traced back to discover the disease.”

The New Analysis Platform

A study group led by Yasui as well as Professor Yoshinobu Baba of Nagoya University’s Graduate School of Engineering, in partnership with Nagoya University’s Institute of Innovation for Future Society and the University of Tokyo, has created a new analysis platform for brain tumor EVs utilizing nanowires at the bottom of a well plate.

Using this device, they identified two particular types of EV membrane proteins, CD31/CD63, from pee samples of brain tumor patients. Looking for these tell-tale proteins could enable doctors to identify tumor patients prior to they develop signs.

“Presently, EV isolation and detection methods require more than two instruments as well as an assay to isolate and spot EVs,” said Yasui. “The all-in-one nanowire assay can isolate and identify EVs using one easy procedure. In the future, users can run samples via our assay and alter the discovery component by selectively changing it to spot specific membrane proteins or miRNAs inside EVs to spot other types of cancer. Using this platform, we expect to progress the analysis of the expression levels of specific membrane proteins in patients’ urinary EVs, enabling early detection of different types of cancer.”

Read the original article on PHYS.

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