Breast cancer (BC) is the first leading cause of deaths among women. It is responsible for approximately 15% of all cancer-related deaths, and the incidence of BC may increase substantially in the future. The high rate of mortality in BC patients is attributed to the late diagnosis of the disease, and consequently the delayed initiation of the medical treatment by surgery, radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. The late diagnosis/treatment of BC is usually associated with poor prognosis. Early detection and proper monitoring of patient status during therapy is urgently needed to decrease the rate of mortality among BC patients. Identification of biomarkers that can be used for the early diagnosis of the disease and/or the prognosis of the patient in therapeutic programs would be clinically very valuable and ultimately reduce the rate of mortality among BC patients. During the past decades, cancer researchers have made extensive research to detect expression of specific biomarkers that may be used as diagnostic tests for certain tumors. Cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) has been proved as a useful biomarker for detection of BC and/or the postoperative follow-up of patients being treated for BC. The majority of investigations performed have used immunohistochemistry to detect this marker in tissues. Preliminary studies have indicated the salivary levels of CA15-3 for the same clinical purpose; however the accurate measuring of CA15-3 in saliva was challenging.<br/>Immunosensors represent the most promising and outstanding technological progress in the field of biochemical and clinical analysis. The present study describes the development of a kinetic exclusion analysis (KinExA)-based immunosensor for salivary levels of CA15-3. This sensor involved interfacing the binding of CA15-3 (in saliva) to a monoclonal antibody with a KinExA instrument generating CA15-3 concentration-dependent fluorescent signals. The proposed KinExA-based sensor was designed to measure the unmodified CA15-3 molecules in saliva, rather than employing antigen- or antibody-immobilized solid phase in the conventional enzyme-linked immunosrbent assay (ELISA). The sensor was validated in terms of its limit of detection, working range, precision profile, and accuracy. The analytical performance of the proposed sensor was found to be superior to the conventional ELISA. The advantages of the sensor over the existing ELISA will be presented.

KinExA-based immunosensor for measuring the salivary level of CA15-3: An efficient technology for diagnosis and management of breast cancer

249th National Meeting (2015)

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