Researchers find ways to diagnose lung cancer mutations with blood droplets

Korean researchers have developed diagnostic technology that can detect lung cancer early with a few drops of blood.

The Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) said Thursday that a team led by Professor Cho Yoon-kyoung of the Department of Biomedical Engineering has developed EV-CLIP. This technology can diagnose cancer mutations even with very small amounts of plasma without pretreatment.

The paper, “Digital Profiling of Tumor Extracellular Vesicle-Associated RNAs Directly from Unprocessed Blood Plasma,” was published on the cover of ACS Nano, a prestigious journal in the nano field, on Tuesday.

The EV-CLIP technology fuses nanovesicles (EVs) from the blood with charged liposomes (CLIPs) containing molecular beacons in tubes thinner than human hair. Nanovesicles shed from cancer cells contain genetically modified information, such as mRNA and miRNA. When the molecular beacon encounters this information, it emits a fluorescent signal. Using this principle, EV-CLIP can diagnose cancer with just 20 microliters (µL) of plasma.

The team also designed the liposome surface to be electrically charged to increase the detection sensitivity.

“The high sensitivity can be used not only to identify the presence or absence of specific cancer mutations but also to diagnose early cancer and monitor residual cancer cells (microscopic residual disease) after treatment,” the study said. “Unlike existing diagnostic methods, it does not require complex pretreatment of plasma to extract nanovesicles or amplify genes.”

In a clinical trial using blood from 83 patients, the test detected 100 percent of EGFR gene mutations, which are important for selecting chemotherapy drugs for lung cancer. It also accurately detected mutations in patients with stage 1 and 2 lung cancer, which are difficult to detect using conventional NGS-based liquid biopsies.

The team plans to transfer the technology to biotech company LabSpinner to develop into a diagnostic kit.

“By compartmentalizing and analyzing nanovesicles, we could sharply increase the sensitivity of the detection,” said Elizabeth Maria Clarissa, first author of the study. “It opens up new possibilities for cancer diagnosis and nanovesicle research in general.”

Professor Cho said, “This paves the way for early cancer detection from just a few drops of blood and the effectiveness of treatment. This technology will enable accurate diagnosis while greatly reducing the pain and burden on patients.”

The research was conducted in collaboration with the teams of Professor Oh In-jae of Chonnam National University Hospital, Professor Kim Mi-hyun of Pusan National University Hospital, and Professor Ryu Jeong-seon of Inha University Hospital.