TSU testing system will help to identify a type of tumors

3 April 2017

TSU chemists and scientists of the Cancer Research Institute (SB RAS) have  developed a testing system for the early diagnosis of lung cancer. According to statistics, this disease is one of the most frequent oncological diseases. Often it is detected in a neglected form and it leads to the death of patients.

The complexity of the timely diagnosis of lung cancer is because of internal localization of tumors and the absence of painful manifestations at the early stages. The testing system of the scientists allows us to “see” the alarming symptoms at the initial stage, significantly increasing the patient's chances of recovery.

- This method of diagnostics is minimally invasive and consists of examining the patient's blood plasma, - says Natalia Dementieva, a researcher at the Laboratory of Physico-Chemical Analytical Methods. - When a malignant tumor develops, DNA fragments that contain specific adducts appear in the blood. Our task was to identify these adducts and create a fairly simple tool to determine them.

In total 200 volunteers participated in the studies, half of them with a lung cancer diagnosis and the same number of healthy people, which was confirmed by the survey. Using highly sensitive physicochemical methods, scientists conducted a study of the blood plasma of the participants in the experiment and looked for compounds that, in their opinion, are formed in the bodies of cancer patients. As a result, 15 markers were found that are significant for the diagnosis of lung cancer.

- The data obtained enabled creating a new diagnostic tool, -says Natalia Dementieva. - A testing system was developed based on a variety of enzyme immunoassay - multiplex analysis on barcoded microparticles. This system allows quantifying the concentration of autoantibodies in the patient's serum and with a probability of more than 80% revealing the presence of the initial stages of the malignant process in the patient's lungs.

As it was noted by the chemists, the new method of diagnosis with all its high sensitivity is an auxiliary tool. It signals oncologists about the problem and the need for further detailed examination of the patient.

The Faculty of Chemistry Laboratory of Physico-Chemical Analytical Methods  and the Laboratory for Translational Cell and Molecular Biomedicine that are part of the StrAU Institute of Biomedicine participated in the studies from the TSU side.