Design and Application of Metal Organic Framework ZIF-90-ZnO-MoS2 Nanohybrid for an Integrated Electrochemical Liquid Biopsy

Prospects, advances and biological applications of MOF-based platform for the treatment of lung cancer

Nowadays in our society, lung cancer is exhibiting a high mortality rate and threat to human health. Conventional diagnostic techniques used in the field of lung cancer often necessitate the use of extensive instrumentation, exhibit a tendency for false positives, and are not suitable for widespread early screening purposes. Conventional approaches to treat lung cancer primarily involve surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. However, these broad-spectrum treatments suffer from drawbacks such as imprecise targeting and significant side effects, which restrict their widespread use. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted significant attention in the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer owing to their tunable electronic properties and structures and potential applications. These porous nanomaterials are formed through the intricate assembly of metal centers and organic ligands, resulting in highly versatile frameworks. Compared to traditional diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, MOFs can improve the sensitivity of lung cancer biomarker detection in the diagnosis of lung cancer. In terms of treatment, they can significantly reduce side effects and improve therapeutic efficacy. Hence, this perspective provides an overview concerning the advancements made in the field of MOFs as potent biosensors for lung cancer biomarkers. It also delves into the latest research dealing with the use of MOFs as carriers for drug delivery. Additionally, it explores the applications of MOFs in various therapeutic approaches, including chemodynamic therapy, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, and immunotherapy. Furthermore, this review comprehensively analyses potential applications of MOFs as biosensors in the field of lung cancer diagnosis and combines different therapeutic approaches aiming for enhanced therapeutic efficacy. It also presents a concise overview of the existing obstacles, aiming to pave the way for future advancements in lung cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Shifting paradigm in electrochemical biosensing matrices comprising metal organic frameworks and their composites in disease diagnosis

Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are an evolving category of crystalline microporous materials that have grabbed the research interest for quite some time due to their admirable physio-chemical properties and easy fabrication methods. Their enormous surface area can be a working ground for innumerable molecular adhesions and site for potential sensor matrices. They have been explored in the last decade for incorporation in electrochemical sensor matrices as diagnostic solutions for a plethora of diseases. This review emphasizes on some of the recent advancements in the area of MOF-based electrochemical biosensors with focus on various important diseases and their significance in upgrading the sensor performance. It summarizes MOF-based biosensors for monitoring biomarkers relevant to diabetes, viral and bacterial sepsis infections, neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer in a wide range of real matrices. The discussion has been supplemented with extensive tables elaborating recent trends in the field of MOF-composite probe fabrication strategies with their respective sensing parameters. The article sums up the future scope of these materials in the field of biosensors and enlightens the reader with recent trends for future research scope. This article is categorized under: Diagnostic Tools > Biosensing Diagnostic Tools > Diagnostic Nanodevices.

Advancements and Challenges in the Application of Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) Nanocomposites for Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment

Nanoscale metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) offer high biocompatibility, nanomaterial permeability, substantial specific surface area, and well-defined pores. These properties make MOFs valuable in biomedical applications, including biological targeting and drug delivery. They also play a critical role in tumor diagnosis and treatment, including tumor cell targeting, identification, imaging, and therapeutic methods such as drug delivery, photothermal effects, photodynamic therapy, and immunogenic cell death. The diversity of MOFs with different metal centers, organics, and surface modifications underscores their multifaceted contributions to tumor research and treatment. This review is a summary of these roles and mechanisms. The final section of this review summarizes the current state of the field and discusses prospects that may bring MOFs closer to pharmaceutical applications.

Buoyant Metal-Organic Framework Corona-Driven Fast Isolation and Ultrasensitive Profiling of Circulating Extracellular Vesicles

Accurately assaying tumor-derived circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) is fundamental in noninvasive cancer diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring but limited by challenges in efficient EV isolation and profiling. Here, we report a bioinspired buoyancy-driven metal-organic framework (MOF) corona that leverages on-bubble coordination and dual-encoded surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanotags to streamline rapid isolation and ultrasensitive profiling of plasma EVs in a single assay for cancer diagnostics. This integrated bubble-MOF-SERS EV assay (IBMsv) allows barnacle-like high-density adhesion of MOFs on a self-floating bubble surface to enable fast isolation (2 min, near 90% capture efficiency) of tumor EVs via enhanced EV-MOF binding. Also, IBMsv harnesses four-plexed SERS nanotags to profile the captured EV surface protein markers at a single-particle level. Such a sensitive assay allows multiplexed profiling of EVs across five cancer types, revealing heterogeneous EV surface expression patterns. Furthermore, the IBMsv assay enables cancer diagnosis in a pilot clinical cohort (n = 55) with accuracies >95%, improves discrimination between cancer and noncancer patients via an algorithm, and monitors the surgical treatment response from hepatocellular carcinoma patients. This assay provides a fast, sensitive, streamlined, multiplexed, and portable blood test tool to enable cancer diagnosis and response monitoring in clinical settings.

Five years of advances in electrochemical analysis of protein biomarkers in lung cancer: a systematic review

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. It represents a public health problem that must be addressed through the early detection of specific biomarkers and effective treatment. To address this critical issue, it is imperative to implement effective methodologies for specific biomarker detection of lung cancer in real clinical samples. Electrochemical methods, including microfluidic devices and biosensors, can obtain robust results that reduce time, cost, and assay complexity. This comprehensive review will explore specific studies, methodologies, and detection limits and contribute to the depth of the discussion, making it a valuable resource for researchers and clinicians interested in lung cancer diagnosis.

Exosomes in the pathogenesis and treatment of cancer-related cachexia

Cancer-related cachexia is a metabolic syndrome characterized by weight loss, adipose tissue decomposition, and progressive skeletal muscle atrophy. It is a major complication of many advanced cancers and seriously affects the quality of life and survival of cancer patients. However, the specific molecules that mediate cancer-related cachexia remain elusive, and the fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with muscle atrophy and lipidolysis in cancer patients still need to be investigated. Exosomes, a newly discovered class of small extracellular vesicles that facilitate intercellular communication, have a significant role in the onset and development of various cancers. Studies have shown that exosomes play a role in the onset and progression of cancer-related cachexia by transporting active molecules such as nucleic acids and proteins. This review aimed to provide an overview of exosome developments in cancer-induced skeletal muscle atrophy and adipose tissue degradation. More importantly, exosomes were shown to have potential as diagnostic markers or therapeutic strategies for cachexia and were prospected, providing novel strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer-related cachexia.

Recent progress in quantitative technologies for the analysis of cancer-related exosome proteins

Exosomes are a kind of extracellular vesicles, which play a significant role in intercellular communication and molecular exchange. Cancer-derived exosomes are potential and ideal biomarkers for the early diagnosis and treatment monitoring of cancers because of their abundant biological information and contribution to the interaction between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment. However, there are a number of drawbacks, such as low sensitivity and tedious steps, in conventional detection techniques. Furthermore, exosome quantification is not enough to accurately distinguish cancer patients from healthy individuals. Therefore, developing efficient, accurate, and inexpensive exosome surface protein analysis techniques is necessary and critical. In recent years, a considerable number of researchers have presented novel detection strategies in this field. This review summarizes the recent progress in quantitative technologies for the analysis of cancer-related exosome proteins, mainly including the detection methods based on aptamers, nanomaterials, and antibodies, discusses a roadmap for future developments, and aims to offer an innovative perspective of exosome research.

A gravity-driven droplet fluidic point-of-care test

We report a simple droplet fluidic point-of-care test (POCT) that uses gravity to manipulate the sequence, timing, and motion of droplets on a surface. To fabricate this POCT, we first developed a surface coating toolbox of nine different coatings with three levels of wettability and three levels of slipperiness that can be independently tailored. We then fabricated a device that has interconnected fluidic elements-pumps, flow resistors and flow guides-on a highly slippery solid surface to precisely control the timing and sequence of motion of multiple droplets and their interactions on the surface. We then used this device to carry out a multi-step enzymatic assay of a clinically relevant analyte-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)-to demonstrate the application of this technology for point-of-care diagnosis.

Room-Temperature Self-Healing Conductive Elastomers for Modular Assembly as a Microfluidic Electrochemical Biosensing Platform for the Detection of Colorectal Cancer Exosomes

Modular components for rapid assembly of microfluidics must put extra effort into solving leakage and alignment problems between individual modules. Here, we demonstrate a conductive elastomer with self-healing properties and propose a modular microfluidic component configuration system that utilizes self-healing without needing external interfaces as an alternative to the traditional chip form. Specifically, dual dynamic covalent bond crosslinks (imine and borate ester bonds) established between Polyurethane (PU) and 2-Formylbenzeneboronic acid (2-FPBA) are the key to a hard room-temperature self-healing elastomeric substrate PP (PU/2-FPBA). An MG (MXene/GO) conductive network with stable layer spacing (Al-O bonds) obtained from MXene and graphene oxide (GO) by in situ reduction of metals confers photothermal conductivity to PP. One-step liquid molding obtained a standardized modular component library of puzzle shapes from PP and MGPP (MG/PP). The exosomes were used to validate the performance of the constructed microfluidic electrochemical biosensing platform. The device has a wide detection range (50-10⁵ particles/μL) and a low limit of detection (LOD) (42 particles/μL) (S/N = 3), providing a disposable, reusable, cost-effective, and rapid analysis platform for quantitative detection of colorectal cancer exosomes. In addition, to our knowledge, this is the first exploration of self-healing conductive elastomers for a modular microfluidic electrochemical biosensing platform.

Nanomaterials for Molecular Detection and Analysis of Extracellular Vesicles

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a novel resource of biomarkers for cancer and certain other diseases. Probing EVs in body fluids has become of major interest in the past decade in the development of a new-generation liquid biopsy for cancer diagnosis and monitoring. However, sensitive and specific molecular detection and analysis are challenging, due to the small size of EVs, low amount of antigens on individual EVs, and the complex biofluid matrix. Nanomaterials have been widely used in the technological development of protein and nucleic acid-based EV detection and analysis, owing to the unique structure and functional properties of materials at the nanometer scale. In this review, we summarize various nanomaterial-based analytical technologies for molecular EV detection and analysis. We discuss these technologies based on the major types of nanomaterials, including plasmonic, fluorescent, magnetic, organic, carbon-based, and certain other nanostructures. For each type of nanomaterial, functional properties are briefly described, followed by the applications of the nanomaterials for EV biomarker detection, profiling, and analysis in terms of detection mechanisms.