TY - JOUR
T1 - Piecing together the puzzle
T2 - Nanopore technology in detection and quantification of cancer biomarkers
AU - Vu, Trang
AU - Davidson, Shanna Leigh
AU - Borgesi, Julia
AU - Maksudul, Mowla
AU - Jeon, Tae Joon
AU - Shim, Jiwook
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2017 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Cancer is the result of a multistep process, including various genetic and epigenetic alterations, such as structural variants, transcriptional factors, telomere length, DNA methylation, histone-DNA modification, and aberrant expression of miRNAs. These changes cause gene defects in one of two ways: (1) gain in function which shows enhanced expression or activation of oncogenes, or (2) loss of function which shows repression or inactivation of tumor-suppressor genes. However, most conventional methods for screening and diagnosing cancers require highly trained experts, intensive labor, large counter space (footprint) and extensive capital costs. Consequently, current approaches for cancer detection are still considered highly novel and are not yet practically applicable for clinical usage. Nanopore-based technology has grown rapidly in recent years, which have seen the wide application of biosensing research to a number of life sciences. In this review paper, we present a comprehensive outline of various genetic and epigenetic causal factors of cancer at the molecular level, as well as the use of nanopore technology in the detection and study of those specific factors. With the ability to detect both genetic and epigenetic alterations, nanopore technology would offer a cost-efficient, labor-free and highly practical approach to diagnosing pre-cancerous stages and early-staged tumors in both clinical and laboratory settings.
AB - Cancer is the result of a multistep process, including various genetic and epigenetic alterations, such as structural variants, transcriptional factors, telomere length, DNA methylation, histone-DNA modification, and aberrant expression of miRNAs. These changes cause gene defects in one of two ways: (1) gain in function which shows enhanced expression or activation of oncogenes, or (2) loss of function which shows repression or inactivation of tumor-suppressor genes. However, most conventional methods for screening and diagnosing cancers require highly trained experts, intensive labor, large counter space (footprint) and extensive capital costs. Consequently, current approaches for cancer detection are still considered highly novel and are not yet practically applicable for clinical usage. Nanopore-based technology has grown rapidly in recent years, which have seen the wide application of biosensing research to a number of life sciences. In this review paper, we present a comprehensive outline of various genetic and epigenetic causal factors of cancer at the molecular level, as well as the use of nanopore technology in the detection and study of those specific factors. With the ability to detect both genetic and epigenetic alterations, nanopore technology would offer a cost-efficient, labor-free and highly practical approach to diagnosing pre-cancerous stages and early-staged tumors in both clinical and laboratory settings.
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U2 - 10.1039/c7ra08063h
DO - 10.1039/c7ra08063h
M3 - Review article
SN - 2046-2069
VL - 7
SP - 42653
EP - 42666
JO - RSC Advances
JF - RSC Advances
IS - 68
ER -