A screening method for early detection of pancreatic cancer using antibodies.   

Current symptoms are too vague and subtle to be recognized early. Now, a team of researchers has developed a new technique that makes the test more accurate and reliable and has been published in the journal Angewandte Chemie. The method is based on the detection of specific antibodies in a blood sample.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly diseases, mainly because it is diagnosed late. Current symptoms are very sensitive and early detection is confusing. Recently, a research team published in the journal Angewandte Chemie a special method that makes the test more reliable and accurate. This technology relies on the detection of antibodies in a blood sample.

They chose to use an autoantibody directed against tumor-associated myosin-1 (TA-MUC1). Mucin-1 is a highly glycosylated protein found in glandular tissue. Its concentration is significantly increased in many types of tumors, including pancreatic cancer.   In addition, the glycosylation pattern differs from the natural form. The team’s goal was to identify antibodies that specifically target TA-MUC1 and identify clear markers of pancreatic cancer.

Based on structural analysis and computer simulations of known TA-MUC1 antibodies (SM3 and 5E5), the team developed synthetic glycopeptides that mimic different parts (epitopes) of TA-MUC1. They made unusual changes to increase the likelihood of detecting disease-specific subsets of autoantibodies. The team immobilized these model antigens on gold nanoparticles and found suitable probes for serological testing (spot test). The test was validated using primary samples of pancreatic cancer patients and healthy controls. Some nanoparticle sensors can separate samples from patients and healthy individuals to detect tumor-associated antibodies. Notably, these specific antibodies showed a higher/false positive ratio than current clinical biomarkers for pancreatic cancer.

Probes containing small glycopeptide antigens that correspond to a single peak work better than larger probes that mimic multiple epitopes, simplifying synthetic production. Short glycopeptides with unusual changes in sugar content have proven particularly useful for autoantibody detection. This new structure-based approach facilitates the selection of subsets of antibodies with high tumor specificity.

Reference

Author: MedBlog18 Blog Team

Views: 38