Iranian Researcher Designs, Produces Electrochemical Biosensors for Early Detection of Breast Cancer
“Designing and manufactureing of electrochemical biosensors for early detection of microRNAs involved in breast cancer in a microfluidic platform” was the title of the PhD thesis done by Jalil Parchekani Choozaki at the Tehran-based Tarbiat Modares University (TMU).
Parchekani, who has a PhD in Biophysics from the TMU explained about his dissertation’s topic, saying, “Discovering a method to prevent cancer and early detection of it has always been of great importance.”
“Late detection of cancer can result in its spread to other body parts and infect other tissues through the metastasis, which takes place through the lymphatic or blood vessels to distant sites. When metastasis occurs, the treatment becomes very difficult as it becomes a malignancy,” the TMU researcher said.
He further noted that according to the World Health Organization’s statistics, breast cancer along with lung cancer are the most prevalent cancers among people worldwide, adding that the breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among Iranian women.
Perchakani went on to recall that breast cancer can be seen in both women and men, but its prevalence is much higher in women than in men.
“One out of every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, but men make up only 1% of all breast cancer cases,” the TMU researcher further said.
“Unfortunately, there is no valid serum marker for early detection of breast cancer that is sensitive and specific enough to be routinely used. However, miRNAs have been considered as an early prognostic marker in cancer detection by scientists.
Changes in the level of miRNA molecules may be a consequence of various physiological conditions, such as pregnancy (placental miRNAs are present in the blood serum of pregnant women, which can be used to determine the stage of pregnancy) or various types of diseases and viral infections, as well as cancer diseases.
TMU researcher went on to conclude that “In this research, we wanted to design and build an electrochemical biosensor for the early detection of microRNAs involved in breast cancer in a microfluidic platform, because with the help of this sensor, breast cancer can be detected in the early stages and very quickly.”
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