Development of Quantitative Lateral Flow Strip Biosensors for the Detection of Cancer Biomarkers

• Main Author: Baryeh, Kwaku
• Format: Others
• Published: North Dakota State University 2019
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10365/29881

The detection of cancer biomarkers is of great importance in oncology. Cancer biomarkers can provide diagnostic information which can aid disease screening and early diagnosis. Further, cancer biomarkers can help predict disease prognosis and response to therapy, and also help in the monitoring of disease. Thence, the accurate and sensitive detection of cancer biomarkers which may be present at very low concentrations is of great clinical importance. Traditionally, these biomarkers have been detected predominantly by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay. The traditional biomarker detection assays generally require multiple washing steps, long assay times, and have the need for trained expertise and expensive instrumentation. In this dissertation, Lateral Flow Strip Biosensors (LFSB) that provide rapid, low-cost and user-friendly screening of cancer biomarkers are discussed. The developed biosensors have the added advantages of being portable, sensitive and highly selective, which makes them ideal for routine cancer screening. Gold nanoparticles (GNP)-based Lateral Flow Strip Immunosensors (LFSI) that colorimetrically detected carbohydrate antigen (CA 19-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were developed for the screening of human plasma and pancreatic cyst fluid, respectively. Further, carbon nanotube based-LFSBs that targeted CA 19-9 and CEA were developed. The CNT-based LFSBs showed improved detection limits over the conventional GNP-based LFSB. A GNP-based LFSB was also developed for the detection of exosomes using an aptamer that targeted a cell surface protein, epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM). The developed assays showed good performance and were used for the screening of pancreatic cancer patient samples. Upon further development, the assays discussed in this dissertation could find application in the clinical screening and monitoring of cancer, especially in limited resource settings. === National Institutes of Health (U.S.) === NIH-COBRE (1P20GM09024) === North Dakota State University. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry