One-Step and Real-Time Detection of microRNA-21 in Human Samples for Lung Cancer Biosensing Diagnosis

Abstract

The rapid diagnosis of cancer, especially in its early stages, is crucial for on-time medical treatment and for increasing the patient survival rate. Lung cancer shows the highest mortality rate and the lowest 5-year survival rate due to the late diagnosis in advanced cancer stages. Providing rapid and reliable diagnostic tools is a top priority to address the problem of a delayed cancer diagnosis. We introduce a nanophotonic biosensor for the direct and real-time detection in human plasma of the microRNA-21-5p biomarker related to lung cancer. The biosensor employs a silicon photonic bimodal interferometric waveguide that provides a highly sensitive detection in a label-free format. We demonstrate a very competitive detectability for direct microRNA-21-5p biomarker assays in human plasma samples (estimated LOD: 25 pM). The diagnostic capability of our biosensor was validated by analyzing 40 clinical samples from healthy individuals and lung cancer patients, previously analyzed by reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). We could successfully identify and quantify the levels of microRNA in a one-step assay, without the need for DNA extraction or amplification steps. The study confirmed the significance of implementing this biosensor technique compared to the benchmarking molecular analysis and showed excellent agreement with previous results employing the traditional qRT-PCR. This work opens new possibilities for the true implementation of point-of-care biosensors that enable fast, simple, and efficient early diagnosis of cancer diseases.

Ultrasensitive Hybridization Chain Reaction-Assisted Multisite Exonuclease III Amplification Strategy Combined with a Direct Quantitative Fluorescence Lateral Flow Technique for Multiple Bacterial 16S rRNA Detection

“…Current RNA detection methods such as northern blotting, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and RT-loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) have been popularly employed at different occasions, − but they also exhibit a few limitations. Northern blotting is a classic method, but the sensitivity remains to be improved .…”

Functionalization of a Fully Integrated Electrophotonic Silicon Circuit for Biotin Sensing

“…These systems can be easily engineered to develop innovative sensors that use photonic mechanisms to detect different analytes [ 5 , 6 ]. Being able to determine if specific biomolecules are present in a sample is key for diverse healthcare applications, such as medical diagnosis [ 7 ], monitoring, and treatment. Over the last few years, many different silicon-based photonic biosensors that use diverse sensing techniques by means of the analyte’s interaction with light have been reported [ 2 , 8 ].…”

Integration of Metal–Organic Polyhedra onto a Nanophotonic Sensor for Real-Time Detection of Nitrogenous Organic Pollutants in Water

“…Thus, the extent to which the light-propagation changes can be correlated with the analyte concentration. Among interferometric sensors, the bimodal waveguide (BiMW) sensor has demonstrated its potential for biosensing of various analytes in diverse applications, including hormones, microRNAs or bacteria in clinical diagnosis, − and algaecides or insecticides in environmental monitoring. , Moreover, the BiMW sensor is based on silicon technology and microelectronic fabrication, thereby enabling its mass production with multiplexed configuration and facilitating its integration into portable sensing devices.…”