Cancer detection advances through liquid biopsy and nanosensor research

Researchers are advancing the field of liquid biopsies, aiming to improve cancer detection through more sophisticated blood-based testing.

A study published in ACS Applied Bio Materials details the development of an electrochemical dual immunosensor by a team including Rabeay Younes Hassan. This experimental nanosensor uses MXene-based material with ruthenium and palladium-oxide nanostructures to simultaneously detect two breast cancer biomarkers, HER2 and MUC1. In laboratory settings, the sensor demonstrated high sensitivity and selectivity with a detection time of approximately 20 minutes.

Complementing these hardware developments, researchers at Karolinska Institutet are exploring multifeature sequencing-based liquid biopsy (MSLB). As described in Genome Medicine, this approach moves beyond searching for a single genetic signal. Instead, MSLB aims to collect and combine multiple types of biological information from a single blood sample, such as cell-free DNA, to create a more comprehensive picture of a tumor's characteristics. This method seeks to overcome the limitations of traditional tissue biopsies, which are invasive, and single-signal blood tests, which may miss critical information when tumor material in the bloodstream is minimal.