Abstract

The analysis of disease-specific biomarker panels holds promise for the early detection of a range of diseases, including cancer. Blood-based biomarkers, in particular, are attractive targets for minimally-invasive disease diagnosis. Specifically, a panel of organ-specific biomarkers could find utility as a general disease surveillance tool enabling earlier detection or prognostic monitoring. Using arrays of chip-integrated silicon photonic sensors, we describe the simultaneous detection of eight cancer biomarkers in serum in a relatively rapid (1 hour) and fully automated antibody-based sandwich assay. Biomarkers were chosen for their applicability to a range of organ-specific cancers, including disease of the pancreas, liver, ovary, breast, lung, colorectum, and prostate. Importantly, we demonstrate that selected patient samples reveal biomarker “fingerprints” that may be useful for a personalized cancer diagnosis. More generally, we show that the silicon photonic technology is capable of measuring multiplexed panels of protein biomarkers that may have broad utility in clinical diagnostics.

Read the full paper here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27400767/