A group of scientists from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Hospital del Mar Research Institute of Barcelona (HMRIB) has created a prototype diagnostic test to identify pancreatic cancer "in minutes" from a blood sample applied to a test strip.
This development has been possible thanks to the collaboration between the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC-CSIC), the Institute for Biomedical Research of Barcelona (IIBB-CSIC), and the aforementioned hospital center. The proof of concept has been carried out with samples from 20 patients and 20 healthy volunteers treated at this Barcelona hospital, and the results have been published in the scientific journal 'Talanta'.
From the CSIC, they have detailed that "this is the first trial of this diagnostic test that identifies, in blood plasma, a protein (sAXL) that acts as a biomarker for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the most frequent and lethal pancreatic cancer," while emphasizing that "the results reveal a simple, portable, and economical method that will need to be optimized before its clinical application."
Regarding the device's operation, the researchers have indicated that "the developed device uses a technology similar to rapid tests, based on test strips capable of analyzing a blood plasma sample in a few minutes." "By optimizing different components to improve its sensitivity, reproducibility, and signal clarity, the test allowed for precise distinction between patients with pancreatic cancer and healthy individuals," they added.
The main author of the work, Juan Pablo Salvador, a researcher in the 'Nanobiotechnology for Diagnostics' group at IQAC-CSIC, has remarked that "this is the first application of a quantitative lateral flow immunoassay - a diagnostic technique that measures the concentration of a substance in a liquid sample - to detect sAXL in plasma."
A rapid method with clinical potential
According to the CSIC, this assay "shows the ability of the new method to identify the presence of the sAXL protein in the blood by using antibodies in a fast and simple format". They recall that "this protein is located on the surface of cells and is part of the normal functioning of the body, but it is overexpressed in certain types of cancer: in the case of the pancreas, it appears at abnormally high levels in more than 70 percent of tumors".
The coordinator of the Molecular Cancer Targets Research Group of the IIBB-CSIC and HMRIB, Pilar Navarro, has pointed out that "a few years ago, we demonstrated that the presence of this soluble protein in the blood is a marker for patients who have already developed the tumor", and has indicated that, once the measurements were contrasted with standard techniques such as "ELISA", this comparison "allowed to confirm the diagnostic relevance of the method".
CSIC experts consider that this advance "represents a promising step forward for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, which is the third leading cause of cancer death in developed countries". They recall that "this is partly due to the fact that this type of tumor is difficult to detect in its early stages, so more than 85 percent of diagnoses are made when it is no longer operable, that is, when the only curative option currently available can no longer be used".
In this context, Salvador and Navarro insist that "having fast, accessible, and minimally invasive tools to improve early detection represents an urgent clinical need". The researcher adds that "the tool developed aims to bring the detection of pancreatic cancer closer to routine clinical practice and contribute to improving patient survival through early diagnosis".
The first author of the study, Núria Vázquez-Bellón, expresses herself in the same vein, emphasizing that "this is a promising first step, although it will still be necessary to optimize the system before its possible clinical application". The authors anticipate that "future studies will focus on increasing the number of patients analyzed and further improving the sensitivity of the system to move towards its possible clinical application".