News Express: UM establishes precise immunoassay platform for detecting cancer-related markers

新聞快訊:澳大成功構建癌症精準評估平台

 

檢測癌胚抗原的光電化學免疫分析平台的構建步驟
A schematic of the steps for developing a robust photoelectrochemical (PEC) immunoassay platform for rapidity and accuracy in detecting carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)

 


澳大成功構建癌症精準評估平台

澳門大學健康科學學院副教授郭珩輝的研究團隊在光電化學(PEC)免疫分析平台的構建上取得顯著進展,能快速準確地評估癌症。研究成果已於國際知名期刊《生物傳感器和生物電子學》上發表,取得相當大的關注度。

標誌物是指可以用於區分腫瘤細胞和正常細胞的物質,可在組織、血液和體液中檢測到。在臨床上,標誌物往往有助癌症病人選擇最精確的治療方案。郭珩輝的研究團隊成功開發的生物感測器平台靈敏且穩定,能用於低豐度的血清樣本中恢復與疾病相關的標誌物(如癌胚抗原,CEA)。該方案通過將穩定的光電陽極系統與生物催化沉澱反應結合,減少額外的儀器支持。

研究團隊的實驗結果展示,在無機光敏材料上引入的外碳層可以提高光捕獲和分離光生e-/h+對,進而放大光電流。在最佳條件下,分體式PEC免疫傳感平台在0.01-80 ng mL-1CEA的動態範圍內表現出良好的光電流回應。該平台容許檢測到的CEA在3S(blank)級別的檢測限為3.6 pg mL-1。抗體在納米標記和高性能光電陽極上的牢固附著可以產生良好的重複性並使中間精密度降低到9.83%。兩個試劑盒同時對六份人類血清標本進行檢測,以比較開發的PEC免疫方法和商售的CEA ELISA試劑盒。兩種方法檢測結果之間不存在差異(在顯著性水準取0.05 的前提下)。

郭珩輝研究團隊開發的PEC生物免疫傳感策略具有以下優點:(1)分裂免疫孵育和催化程式通過減少測試環境的混淆,進而減少對電極信號的干擾;(2)CdS@C光陽極系統展現了高效的光電轉換效率和穩定性;(3)開發的方法有顯著的穩定性和抗干擾性。團隊表示,構建強大的PEC分析方法可以解決由信號波動而導致的虛假報告,並可用於快速準確地評估相關領域的癌症標誌物。

該研究的主要通訊作者是郭珩輝,共同第一作者為澳大健康科學學院博士後郭麗斌和博士畢業生李彬,博士生黃倩華及曾在團隊從事博士後研究的葛立林也對該研究作出貢獻。研究項目獲澳門特別行政區科學技術發展基金(檔案編號:0027/2022/A1)資助。全文可流覽:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956566323003469

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https://www.um.edu.mo/zh-hant/news-and-press-releases/campus-news/detail/56246/


UM establishes precise immunoassay platform for detecting cancer-related markers

A research team led by Kwok Hang Fai, associate professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) at the University of Macau (UM), has made significant progress in establishing a robust photoelectrochemical (PEC) immunoassay platform to evaluate cancer-related markers with rapidity and accuracy. The research results have been published in the internationally renowned journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics and have received considerable attention.

Biomarkers are substances that can be used to distinguish cancer cells from normal cells. They can be measured in tissues, blood, or body fluids. In the clinic, biomarkers are often used to help cancer patients to choose the most appropriate treatment. Prof Kwok’s research team has successfully developed an ultra-sensitive and stable biosensing platform for the recovery of disease-related markers such as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in low-abundance serum samples. This method reduces additional expensive instrumentation support through a rationally constructed biocatalytic precipitation scheme with a stable photoanode system.

The experimental results revealed that the outer carbon layer introduced on the inorganic photoactive materials could cause the amplifying photocurrent by improving light harvesting and separating photo-generated e-/h+ pairs. Under optimum conditions, the split-type PEC immunosensing platform displayed good photocurrent responses within the dynamic range of 0.01-80 ng mL-1 CEA. It allowed the detection of CEA as low as a concentration of 3.6 pg mL-1 at the 3Sblank level. The strong attachment of the antibodies onto the nano label and high-performing photoanode produced good repeatability and reduced the intermediate precision to 9.83%. No significant differences at the 0.05 significance level were encountered in analysing six human serum specimens between the developed PEC immunoassay and the commercially available CEA ELISA kits.

The PEC bioimmunosensing strategy developed by Prof Kwok’s research team has the following advantages: (1) The split immunoincubation and catalytic procedures reduce the interference to the electrode signal by reducing the confusion of the test environment; (2) the CdS@C photoanode system exhibits efficient photoelectric conversion efficiency and stability; and (3) the developed assay has clear stability and resistance to interference. According to the research team, the established robust PEC immunoassay method can address the appearance of false reports due to signal fluctuations and can be used to evaluate cancer-related markers in the field with rapidity and accuracy.

Prof Kwok is the primary corresponding author of the study. FHS postdoctoral fellow Guo Libin and PhD graduate Li Bin share the co-first authorship. PhD student Wong Sin Wa and former postdoctoral fellow Ge Lilin also made contributions to the study. The research project was supported by the Science and Technology Development Fund of the Macao SAR (File no: 0027/2022/A1). The full version of the research article can be viewed at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956566323003469.

To read the news on UM’s official website, please visit the following link:
https://www.um.edu.mo/news-and-press-releases/campus-news/detail/56246/