Simple and robust antibody microarray-based immunoassay platform for sensitive and selective detection of PSA and hK2 toward accurate diagnosis of prostate cancer

Targeting glucose metabolism to develop anticancer treatments and therapeutic patents

INTRODUCTION

One of the most distinctive hallmarks of cancer cells is increased glucose consumption for aerobic glycolysis which is named the Warburg effect. In recent decades, extensive research has been carried out to exploit this famous phenomenon, trying to detect promising targetable vulnerabilities in altered metabolism to fight cancer. Targeting aberrant glucose metabolism can perturb cancer malignant proliferation and even induce programmed cell death.

AREAS COVERED

This review covered the recent patents which focused on targeting key glycolytic enzymes including hexokinase, pyruvate dehydrogenase kinases and lactate dehydrogenase for cancer treatment.

EXPERT OPINION

Compared with the conventional cancer treatment, specifically targeting the well-known Achilles heel Warburg effect has attracted considerable attention. Although there is still no single glycolytic agent for clinical cancer treatment, the combination of glycolytic inhibitor with conventional anticancer drug or the combined use of multiple glycolytic inhibitors are being investigated extensively in recent years, which could emerge as attractive anticancer strategies.

Highly sensitive detection of antibodies in a soft bioactive three-dimensional bioorthogonal hydrogel

This three-dimensional detection method of antibodies offers a high sensitivity and good biomolecule stability for new biosensing devices.

Ultrasensitive electrochemical immunosensor for PSA biomarker detection in prostate cancer cells using gold nanoparticles/PAMAM dendrimer loaded with enzyme linked aptamer as integrated triple signal amplification strategy

In the present study, a triple signal amplification strategy was developed for ultrasensitive immunosensing of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tumor marker. The proposed system was achieved by modification of glassy carbon electrode with graphene oxide/chitosan film and covalently attached of monoclonal PSA antibody and thionine as redox probe onto the modified electrode surface. Then, immunosensing was completed using sandwich-type immunoreaction of the PSA-antigen between anti-PSA immobilized on the graphene/chitosan interface and PSA-aptamer. For improve the sensitivity, polyamidoamine dendrimer-encapsulated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs-PAMAM) was used for covalent attachment of PSA-aptamer and HRP linked aptamer (Au-PAMA/aptamer-HRP) as electrochemical label in the sandwich format and electrocatalytic reduction of H2O2 in the presence of enzymatically oxidized thionine was measured. Under optimized condition, the obtained detection limit and linear concentration range were 10 fg ml(-1)(S/N=3) and 0.1 pg ml(-1) to 90 ngml(-1) respectively, using differential pulse voltammetry as measuring technique. In addition, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used as simple, rapid, low cost label free analytical technique for PSA measurement with detection limit of 5 pg ml(-1) at concentration range up to 35 ng ml(-1). Finally, the immunosensor is used to PSA detection in human serum and prostate tissue samples and the obtained result is well agreed with the values obtained by the standard ELISA method. The obtained results indicate the proposed immunosensor can be used for monitor the differences in PSA concentration in cancer tissue samples which holds great promise in clinical screening of cancer biomarkers.

Cancer serum biomarkers based on aberrant post-translational modifications of glycoproteins: Clinical value and discovery strategies

Due to the increase in life expectancy in the last decades, as well as changes in lifestyle, cancer has become one of the most common diseases both in developed and developing countries. Early detection remains the most promising approach to improve long-term survival of cancer patients and this may be achieved by efficient screening of biomarkers in biological fluids. Great efforts have been made to identify specific alterations during oncogenesis. Changes at the cellular glycosylation profiles are among such alterations. The "glycosylation machinery" of cells is affected by malignant transformation due to the altered expression of glycogens, leading to changes in glycan biosynthesis and diversity. Alterations in the post-translational modifications of proteins that occur in cancer result in the expression of antigenically distinct glycoproteins. Therefore, these aberrant and cancer-specific glycoproteins and the autoantibodies that are produced in response to their presence constitute targets for cancer biomarkers' search. Different strategies have been implemented for the discovery of cancer glycobiomarkers and are herein reviewed, along with their potentialities and limitations. Practical issues related with serum analysis are also addressed, as well as the challenges that this area faces in the near future.

3D sandwich-type prostate specific antigen (PSA) immunosensor based on rGO–MWCNT–Pd nanocomposite

A signal amplifying sandwich-type immunosensor with a wide linear range and a low detection limit is developed with potential clinical and diagnostic applications.