Use of nanotechnology for the development of novel cancer biomarkers

Copper-64 Radiopharmaceuticals for Oncologic Imaging

The positron emitting radionuclide (64)Cu has a radioactive half-life of 12.7 hours. The decay characteristics of (64)Cu allow for PET images that are comparable in quality to those obtained using (18)F. Given the longer radioactive half-life of (64)Cu compared with (18)F and the versatility of copper chemistry, copper is an attractive alternative to the shorter-lived nuclides for PET imaging of peptides, antibodies, and small molecules that may require longer circulation times. This article discusses a number of copper radiopharmaceuticals, such as Cu-ATSM, that have been translated to the clinic and new developments in copper-based radiopharmaceuticals.

The Role of Epigenomics in the Study of Cancer Biomarkers and in the Development of Diagnostic Tools

Epigenetics plays a key role in cancer development. Genetics alone cannot explain sporadic cancer and cancer development in individuals with no family history or a weak family history of cancer. Epigenetics provides a mechanism to explain the development of cancer in such situations. Alterations in epigenetic profiling may provide important insights into the etiology and natural history of cancer. Because several epigenetic changes occur before histopathological changes, they can serve as biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and risk assessment. Many cancers may remain asymptomatic until relatively late stages; in managing the disease, efforts should be focused on early detection, accurate prediction of disease progression, and frequent monitoring. This chapter describes epigenetic biomarkers as they are expressed during cancer development and their potential use in cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Based on epigenomic information, biomarkers have been identified that may serve as diagnostic tools; some such biomarkers also may be useful in identifying individuals who will respond to therapy and survive longer. The importance of analytical and clinical validation of biomarkers is discussed, along with challenges and opportunities in this field.

Biosensors: the new wave in cancer diagnosis

The earlier cancer can be detected, the better the chance of a cure. Currently, many cancers are diagnosed only after they have metastasized throughout the body. Effective, accurate methods of cancer detection and clinical diagnosis are urgently needed. Biosensors are devices that are designed to detect a specific biological analyte by essentially converting a biological entity (ie, protein, DNA, RNA) into an electrical signal that can be detected and analyzed. The use of biosensors in cancer detection and monitoring holds vast potential. Biosensors can be designed to detect emerging cancer biomarkers and to determine drug effectiveness at various target sites. Biosensor technology has the potential to provide fast and accurate detection, reliable imaging of cancer cells, and monitoring of angiogenesis and cancer metastasis, and the ability to determine the effectiveness of anticancer chemotherapy agents. This review will briefly summarize the current obstacles to early detection of cancer and the expanding use of biosensors as a diagnostic tool, as well as some future applications of biosensor technology.

Mass spectrometry-based clinical proteomics: head-and-neck cancer biomarkers and drug-targets discovery

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics is a rapidly developing technology for both qualitative and quantitative analyses of proteins, and investigations into protein posttranslational modifications, subcellular localization, and interactions. Recent advancements in MS have made tremendous impact on the throughput and comprehensiveness of cancer proteomics, paving the way to unraveling deregulated cellular pathway networks in human malignancies. In turn, this knowledge is rapidly being translated into the discovery of novel potential cancer markers (PCMs) and targets for molecular therapeutics. Head-and-neck cancer is one of the most morbid human malignancies with an overall poor prognosis and severely compromised quality of life. Early detection and novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed for more effective disease management. The characterizations of protein profiles of head-and-neck cancers and non-malignant tissues, with unprecedented sensitivity and precision, are providing technology platforms for identification of novel PCMs and drug targets. Importantly, low-abundance proteins are being identified and characterized, not only from the tumor tissues, but also from bodily fluids (plasma, saliva, and urine) in a high-throughput and unbiased manner. This review is a critical appraisal of recent advances in MS-based proteomic technologies and platforms for facilitating the discovery of biomarkers and novel drug targets in head-and-neck cancer. A major challenge in the discovery and verification of these cancer biomarkers is the typically limited availability of well-characterized and adequately stored clinical samples in tumor and sera banks, collected using recommended procedures, and with detailed information on clinical, pathological parameters, and follow-up. Most biomarker discovery studies use limited number of clinical samples and verification of cancer markers in large number of samples is beyond the scope of a single laboratory. The validation of these potential markers in large sample cohorts in multicentric studies is needed for their translation from the bench to the bedside.

Prospects of using proteome technologies in the diagnostics of sexually transmitted infections and skin diseases

The article presents data from the literature describing up-to-date syphilis diagnostics methods used in the Russian Federation. It also describes main proteome techniques and gives the results of applying proteome technologies in the diagnostics of diseases including infectious ones, and prospects and opportunities for using direct proteome profiling to develop a new method for syphilis diagnostics are analyzed.

Cancer biomarkers: are we ready for the prime time?

A biomarker is a characteristic that is objectively measured and evaluated as an indicator of normal biologic processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to a therapeutic intervention. In cancer, a biomarker refers to a substance or process that is indicative of the presence of cancer in the body. A biomarker might be either a molecule secreted by a tumor or it can be a specific response of the body to the presence of cancer. Genetic, epigenetic, proteomic, glycomic, and imaging biomarkers can be used for cancer diagnosis, prognosis and epidemiology. These markers can be assayed in non-invasively collected biofluids. However, few cancer biomarkers are highly sensitive and specific for cancer detection at the present time. Consequently, biomarkers are not yet ready for routine use due to challenges in their clinical validation for early disease detection, diagnosis and monitoring to improve long-term survival of patients.

Polymeric nanoparticles for cancer therapy

Cancer is an ever-increasing menace that needs to be curbed soon. Though chemotherapy is successful to some extent, the main drawbacks of chemotherapy is the limited accessibility of drugs to the tumor tissues requiring high doses, their intolerable toxicity, development of multiple drug resistance and their non-specific targeting. Nanoparticles (NPs), an evolution of nanotechnology, have the potential to successfully address these problems related to drug delivery and retention and are considered potential candidates to carry drugs to the desired site of therapeutic action. In this review, we give an overview of the use of clinically applicable NPs mainly for cancer therapy. We also focus on the different types of nanoscale polymer carriers used for the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents and the mechanisms that facilitate their targeted delivery to tumor cells.

Application of Nanotechnology in Cancer

Nanotechnology refers broadly to a field of applied science and technology whose unifying theme is the control of matter on the molecular level in scales smaller than 1 micrometer, normally 1 to 100 nanometers, and the fabrication of devices within that size range. In the last five years this technology has been improved tremendously in disease diagnosis and prognosis and maximum research and clinical work has been completed in cancer. The use of various pharmaceutical nanocarriers has become one of the most important areas of nanomedicine. Novel nanotechnologies can complement and augment existing genomic and proteomic techniques to analyze variations across different tumor types, thus offering the potential to distinguish between normal and malignant cells. Sensitive biosensors constructed of nanoscale components ( e.g., nanocantilevers, nanowires, and nanochannels) can recognize genetic and molecular events and have reporting capabilities, thereby offering the potential to detect rare molecular signals associated with malignancy. Such signals may then be collected for analysis by nanoscale harvesters that selectively isolate cancer-related molecules from tissues. The implication of nanotechnology in cancer is discussed in this article with an emphasis on biomarker detection, imaging studies for diagnosis, and its role in therapeutic intervention.

SERS nanoparticles: a new optical detection modality for cancer diagnosis

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is an optical detection technique that offers advantages over traditional assay detection technologies, such as fluorescence and chemiluminescence. These advantages include sensitivity, high levels of multiplexing, robustness and ability to perform detection in blood and other biological matrices. Here, we report on the growing field of SERS-active nanoparticles as a novel method for detection, with special emphasis on their use in the field of oncology. We discuss examples of SERS-active nanoparticles used in an assay for PSA, BRCA1 and Her-2, along with examples of nucleic-acid detection. We present data on a novel homogeneous, single-tube, rapid assay for nucleic acid detection and show how it will benefit the oncology community.