Design and Characterization of a Dual-Protein Strategy for an Early-Stage Assay of Ovarian Cancer Biomarker Lysophosphatidic Acid

Abstract

The overall 5-year survival rate of ovarian cancer (OC) is generally low as the disease is often diagnosed at an advanced stage of progression. To save lives, OC must be identified in its early stages when treatment is most effective. Early-stage OC causes the upregulation of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), making the molecule a promising biomarker for early-stage detection. An LPA assay can additionally stage the disease since LPA levels increase with OC progression. This work presents two methods that demonstrate the prospective application for detecting LPA: the electromagnetic piezoelectric acoustic sensor (EMPAS) and a chemiluminescence-based iron oxide nanoparticle (IONP) approach. Both methods incorporate the protein complex gelsolin–actin, which enables testing for detection of the biomarker as the binding of LPA to the complex results in the separation of gelsolin from actin. The EMPAS was characterized with contact angle goniometry and atomic force microscopy, while gelsolin–actin-functionalized IONPs were characterized with transmission electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. In addition to characterization, LPA detection was demonstrated as a proof-of-concept in Milli-Q water, buffer, or human serum, highlighting various LPA assays that can be developed for the early-stage detection of OC.