Nanocomposite immunosensors to diagnose prostate cancer

Posted: Mar 3rd, 2013 (Nanowerk News) Immunosensors based on the nanocomposite of carbon nanotubes and ionic liquids were produced by researchers at Kurdistan University in order to diagnose prostate cancer ("Highly sensitive immunosensing of prostate-specific antigen based on ionic liquid?carbon nanotubes modified electrode: Application as cancer biomarker for prostatebiopsies"). The immunosensor can be used in clinical and medical diagnoses. It is vital to early diagnose cancer in order to improve the treatment for the patients. Nowadays, the need for reliable diagnosis tests has attracted the attention of many scientific societies in order to identify tumor markers in human serum. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is known as a valuable biomarker for the treatment of patients who suffer from prostate cancer. The aim of this research was to design and to produce a nanocomposite by using carbon nanotubes and ionic liquids in order to be used in the production of sensitive, repeatable, simple, and cost-effective immunosensors for the measurement of tumor markers, especially, PSA tumor marker. Sandwich connection was used in this research in order to measure PSA. In this method, the stabilized antibody firstly entraps the related analyte (antigen), then the entrapped antigen is identified and measured with the help of the second marked antibody. Sandwich method has very high selectivity and sensitivity because it uses two similar antibodies. At the same time with its simplicity (the lack of the need for complicated synthesis procedures), the nanocomposite synthesized in this research increased the sensitivity in the process in comparison with other methods reported in the references due to its increase in the surface. The other advantage in the designing and production of immunosensors is that it does not need surface blocking materials such as bull albumin serum. The reduction in incubation time between antibody and antigen, and selectivity are among other characteristics of this immunosensor.

Source: http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/newsid=29319.php

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