Coupling magnetic levitation of graphene oxide–protein complexes with blood levels of glucose for early detection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Introduction Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a poor prognosis since often diagnosed too late. Dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia are considered risk factors, but the presence of the tumor itself can determine the onset of these disorders. Therefore, it is not easy to predict which subjects with diabetes or dyslipidemia will develop or have already developed PDAC. Over the past decade, tests based on the use of nanotechnology, alone or coupled with common laboratory tests (e.g., hemoglobin levels), have proven useful in aiding the diagnosis of PDAC. Tests based on magnetic levitation (MagLev) have demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy in compliance with the REASSURED criteria. Here, we aimed to assess the ability of the MagLev test in detecting PDAC when coupled with the blood levels of glycemia, cholesterol, and triglycerides. Methods Blood samples from 24 PDAC patients and 22 healthy controls were collected. Human plasma was let to interact with graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and the emerging coronated systems were put in the MagLev device. Outcomes from Maglev experiments were coupled to glycemia, cholesterol, and triglycerides levels. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was carried out to evaluate the classification ability of the test in terms of specificity, sensitivity, and global accuracy. Statistical analysis was performed with Matlab (MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA, Version R2022a) software. Results The positions of the levitating bands were measured at the starting point (i.e., as soon as the cuvette containing the sample was subjected to the magnetic field). Significant variations in the starting position of levitating nanosystems in controls and PDACs were detected. The combination of the MagLev outcomes with the blood glycemic levels returned the best value of global accuracy (91%) if compared to the coupling with those of cholesterol and triglycerides (global accuracy of ~ 77% and 84%, respectively). Conclusion If confirmed by further studies on larger cohorts, a multiplexed Maglev-based nanotechnology-enabled blood test could be employed as a screening tool for PDAC in populations with hyperglycemia.

Graphene Oxide Nanoparticles and Organoids: A Prospective Advanced Model for Pancreatic Cancer Research

“…Quagliarini et al underscored the potential of leveraging the magnetic levitation of graphene oxide-protein complexes in conjunction with blood glucose levels for the early detection of PDAC. The observed significant variations in levitating nanosystems between controls and PDACs suggest the feasibility of employing this innovative approach as a multiplexed blood test for PDAC screening, especially in populations with hyperglycemia [270]. A positively charged lipid bilayer membrane was applied to reduced graphene oxide@gold nanostar (rGO@AuNS) for photoacoustic/photothermal dual-modal imaging-guided gene/photothermal synergistic therapy in pancreatic cancer.…”

Stratifying Risk for Pancreatic Cancer by Multiplexed Blood Test

“…Interestingly, beyond the possible identification of biomarkers for cancers, the protein corona technology has been employed to classify non-oncological patients (NOP) from PDAC samples by evaluating the global protein patterns of the coronas with more affordable techniques, e.g., 1D sodium dodecyl sulphatepolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (1D SDS-PAGE) [29,30]. The outcomes of NEB tests can be further paired to clinically relevant parameters in multiplexed strategies [22,31] to improve the classification ability of the techniques. In this work, we implemented a multiplexed test by using a gold NEB test [32,33] and common clinical parameters, including albumin, hemoglobin, glucose levels, and systemic inflammatory response biomarkers that have been demonstrated to have an important role in pancreatic cancer but are not enough specific to be used alone [34].…”

A Magnetic Levitation System for Range/Sensitivity-Tunable Measurement of Density

“…It has several advantages over traditional methods, including portability, low cost, simple operation, and precise measurements through visual readout [8,[13][14][15][33][34][35][36]. MagLev has already found numerous applications in fields such as separation, self-assembly, forensics, quality control, and bioanalysis, and its simplicity makes it particularly suitable for use in resource-limited environments or as a point-of-care diagnostic tool [22,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. For the original MagLev method, an upright cylindrical container filled with a paramagnetic medium (e.g., an aqueous solution of manganese chloride, MnCl 2 ) is used as a density indicator after loading the test samples.…”