Electrochemiluminescence biosensor for specific detection of pancreatic ductal carcinoma through dual targeting of MUC1 and miRNA-196a.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) poses significant diagnostic challenges due to its asymptomatic nature in its early stages, low specificity of conventional in vitro assays, and limited efficacy of surgical interventions. However, clinical specificity of the current serum biomarkers is suboptimal, leading to diagnostic inaccuracies and oversights. Therefore, this study introduced a novel dual-target electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor to address these critical issues. The ECL biosensor synergistically employs the serum biomarker MUC1 and microRNA-196a to detect early-stage PDAC precisely. While MUC1 is a differential marker between normal and cancerous pancreatic cells, its standalone diagnostic performance is limited. However, integrating miRNA-196a as a complementary marker substantially enhances the specificity of the assay. This biosensor exhibits distinct ECL signal modulation-"on-off" in the presence of MUC1 and "off-on" upon concurrent detection of MUC1 and miRNA-196a. The biosensor achieves remarkably low limits of detection (LODs) at 0.63 fg mL-1 and 4.57 aM for MUC1 and miRNA-196a, respectively. Thus, it facilitates the real-time differentiation between human normal pancreatic (hTERT-HPNE) and pancreatic cancer (PANC-1) cells in authentic biological matrices. This innovative approach heralds a significant advancement in the early and specific detection of PDAC, offering promising prospects for clinical translation and the broader landscape of cancer diagnostics.

Spindle Monitor: A Tool for Real-Time Assessment and Concurrent Treatment of Postoperative Tumor Prognosis.

Cancer surgery remains a mainstay in clinical treatment. However, the efficacy of subsequent therapies largely depends on the precise evaluation of postoperative prognoses, underscoring the critical need for a comprehensive and accurate assessment of surgical outcomes. Nanoprobes targeting tumors offer a promising solution for visual prognostic assessment. In this study, we developed a "Spindle Monitor" system, designated as APPADs (Au NBPs@PDA-pep-AS1411-Dox), composed of core-shell nanoparticles. The core was made up of gold nanobipyramids (Au NBPs), coated with polydopamine (PDA), and subsequently loaded with peptide chains, AS1411, and doxorubicin (Dox). Upon deployment in the acidic tumor microenvironment (TME), APPADs released substantial amounts of Dox, initiating the apoptotic process. This triggered the activity of caspase-3, which is a crucial executor in the apoptotic pathway. Consequently, DEVD, a specific recognition site for caspase-3, was cleaved, enabling the disconnection of FITC-conjugated peptide chains and the recovery of fluorescence. Through assessing this fluorescence imaging effect, local laser irradiation could be precisely guided to the postoperative site, facilitating a synergistic combination of photothermal therapy and chemotherapy. Specifically, our "Spindle Monitor" APPADs had been validated to achieve accurate fluorescence imaging in vitro and in vivo, which demonstrated its potential value as a versatile tool for evaluating postoperative prognosis in surgical treatments, such as thyroid cancer, and assessing chemotherapy efficacy in difficult cases, like late-stage osteosarcoma. This promising tool lays a good foundation for development in visual prognosis evaluation after tumor surgery.

Construction of a magnetic-fluorescent-plasmonic nanosensor for the determination of MMP-2 activity based on SERS-fluorescence dual-mode signals.

Matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) is a crucial biomarker of tumor growth, invasion and metastasis. In the present study, a core-satellite magnetic-fluorescent-plasmonic nanosensor (FMNS@Au) was constructed through biological self-assembly to generate localized SERS "hot spots" and an efficient FRET system for the sensitive determination of MMP-2 activity in a SERS-fluorescence dual-mode assay. In this hybrid nanosensor, a biotin-labeled peptide containing a specific MMP-2 substrate (PLGVR) was employed as a bridge for the assembly of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and avidin functionalized fluorescent-magnetic nanospheres (FMNS). The modified RB on FMNS served as a Raman reporter and a donor of FRET, while the AuNPs assembled on FMNS acted as SERS substrates and acceptors of FRET. In the presence of MMP-2, the SERS "hot spot" effect was weakened and the FRET system was disrupted through enzymatic cleavage of PLGVR, resulting in a reduction of SERS signal and the recovery of fluorescence emission. Importantly, this combination of SERS and fluorescence assay methods in the dual-mode nanosensor broadened the detection range for MMP-2 to 1-200 ng mL-1, with a limit of detection of 0.35 ng mL-1 and a limit of quantitation of 1.17 ng mL-1. In addition, our novel nanosensor affords semi-quantitative sensing of MMP-2 by naked-eye observation and accurate detection of MMP-2 through dual-mode analysis. The practicality of FMNS@Au was validated by determination of MMP-2 activity in cell secretions and human serum samples. The designed FMNS@Au nanosensor holds great potential for clinical diagnosis of protease-related diseases.