Biomarkers Used for the Diagnosis of Diseases

A special issue of Biosensors (ISSN 2079-6374). This special issue belongs to the section "Biosensors and Healthcare".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 25413

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Special Issue Editors

Institute for Applied Chemistry and Department of Chemistry, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Gangwon-do 24252, Korea
Interests: medicinal chemistry; bioorganic chemistry; supramolecular chemistry; biosensors; chemosensors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Materials Science and Engineering, Hallym University, Chuncheon 24252, Republic of Korea
Interests: biosensor; immunoassay; medical diagnosis; biomaterials; immunoaffinity layer; autodisplay technology; antibody immobilization; real-time monitoring
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent advances in chemical technology and biotechnology have rapidly changed the landscape of molecular diagnostics. Research on the discovery of novel biomarkers that allow for the rapid diagnosis of clinical ailments, where early detection is a key to survival, has seen exponential growth in recent years. Interestingly, the discovery of novel biomarkers is supported by the rapid growth in the development of platform technologies that allow for the highly sensitive and specific detection of biomarkers. Nucleic acid biomarkers (micro RNA, cDNA, and ctDNA) and protein biomarkers (cTnT, PSA, CRP, and CYFRA 21-1) are two types of biomarkers that are always under the scrutiny of the wide scientific community, who are working effortlessly to make disease diagnosis simple, rapid, and yet highly applicable in resource-limited settings.

The detection and quantification of nucleic acid biomarkers and protein biomarkers in the resource-limited settings with high precision, will be key to the early diagnosis of the disease and for monitoring the effects of treatments. Therefore, there is an enormous demand for high-quality biomarker detection platforms that are robust and highly applicable in resource-limited settings. This Special Issue, devoted to methods for detection and quantification of protein and nucleic acid biomarkers, aims to focus on the recent advances in this field.

We invite submissions of original research and reviews that elaborate on the highly sensitive and highly specific detection of nucleic acid biomarkers, protein biomarkers, circulating tumor cells hormones, and metabolites.

Dr. Satish Balasaheb Nimse
Dr. Min Park
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • biomarker detection
  • microfluidics
  • DNA chips
  • protein chips
  • lateral flow assays
  • lab-on-chip
  • point-of-care test
  • biosensors

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 2577 KiB  
Article
High-Aspect-Ratio Microfluidic Channel with Parallelogram Cross-Section for Monodisperse Droplet Generation
by Hyeonyeong Ji, Jaehun Lee, Jaewon Park, Jungwoo Kim, Hyun Soo Kim and Younghak Cho
Biosensors 2022, 12(2), 118; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/bios12020118 - 14 Feb 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2957
Abstract
Droplet-based microfluidics has been widely used as a potent high-throughput platform due to various advantages, such as a small volume of reagent consumption, massive production of droplets, fast reaction time, and independent control of each droplet. Therefore, droplet microfluidic systems demand the reliable [...] Read more.
Droplet-based microfluidics has been widely used as a potent high-throughput platform due to various advantages, such as a small volume of reagent consumption, massive production of droplets, fast reaction time, and independent control of each droplet. Therefore, droplet microfluidic systems demand the reliable generation of droplets with precise and effective control over their size and distribution, which is critically important for various applications in the fields of chemical analysis, material synthesis, lab-on-a-chip, cell research, diagnostic test, and so on. In this study, we propose a microfluidic device with a high-aspect-ratio (HAR) channel, which has a parallelogram cross-section, for generating monodisperse droplets. The HAR channel was fabricated using simple and cheap MEMS processes, such as photolithography, anisotropic wet etching, and PDMS molding, without expensive equipment. In addition, the parallelogram cross-section channel structure, regarded as a difficult shape to implement in previous fabrication methods, was easily formed by the self-alignment between the silicon channel and the PDMS mold, both of which were created from a single crystal silicon through an anisotropic etching process. We investigated the effects of the cross-sectional shape (parallelogram vs. rectangle) and height-to-width ratio of microfluidic channels on the size and uniformity of generated droplets. Using the developed HAR channel with the parallelogram cross-section, we successfully obtained smaller monodisperse droplets for a wider range of flow rates, compared with a previously reported HAR channel with a rectangular cross-section. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomarkers Used for the Diagnosis of Diseases)
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16 pages, 1450 KiB  
Article
Urinary Volatiles and Chemical Characterisation for the Non-Invasive Detection of Prostate and Bladder Cancers
by Heena Tyagi, Emma Daulton, Ayman S. Bannaga, Ramesh P. Arasaradnam and James A. Covington
Biosensors 2021, 11(11), 437; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/bios11110437 - 03 Nov 2021
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 2651
Abstract
Bladder cancer (BCa) and prostate cancer (PCa) are some of the most common cancers in the world. In both BCa and PCa, the diagnosis is often confirmed with an invasive technique that carries a risk to the patient. Consequently, a non-invasive diagnostic approach [...] Read more.
Bladder cancer (BCa) and prostate cancer (PCa) are some of the most common cancers in the world. In both BCa and PCa, the diagnosis is often confirmed with an invasive technique that carries a risk to the patient. Consequently, a non-invasive diagnostic approach would be medically desirable and beneficial to the patient. The use of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for disease diagnosis, including cancer, is a promising research area that could support the diagnosis process. In this study, we investigated the urinary VOC profiles in BCa, PCa patients and non-cancerous controls by using gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) and gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS) to analyse patient samples. GC-IMS separated BCa from PCa (area under the curve: AUC: 0.97 (0.93–1.00)), BCa vs. non-cancerous (AUC: 0.95 (0.90–0.99)) and PCa vs. non-cancerous (AUC: 0.89 (0.83–0.94)) whereas GC-TOF-MS differentiated BCa from PCa (AUC: 0.84 (0.73–0.93)), BCa vs. non-cancerous (AUC: 0.81 (0.70–0.90)) and PCa vs. non-cancerous (AUC: 0.94 (0.90–0.97)). According to our study, a total of 34 biomarkers were found using GC-TOF-MS data, of which 13 VOCs were associated with BCa, seven were associated with PCa, and 14 VOCs were found in the comparison of BCa and PCa. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomarkers Used for the Diagnosis of Diseases)
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15 pages, 5137 KiB  
Article
Development of a Novel Benzimidazole-Based Probe and Portable Fluorimeter for the Detection of Cysteine in Human Urine
by Gyu Seong Yeom, In-ho Song, Shrikant Dashrath Warkad, Pramod B. Shinde, Taewoon Kim, Seong-min Park and Satish Balasaheb Nimse
Biosensors 2021, 11(11), 420; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/bios11110420 - 26 Oct 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2181
Abstract
The measurement of cysteine in human urine and live cells is crucial for evaluating biological metabolism, monitoring and maintaining the immune system, preventing tissue/DNA damage caused by free radicals, preventing autoimmune diseases, and diagnosing disorders such as cystinuria and cancer. A method that [...] Read more.
The measurement of cysteine in human urine and live cells is crucial for evaluating biological metabolism, monitoring and maintaining the immune system, preventing tissue/DNA damage caused by free radicals, preventing autoimmune diseases, and diagnosing disorders such as cystinuria and cancer. A method that uses a fluorescence turn-on probe and a portable fluorescence spectrometer device are crucial for highly sensitive, simple, rapid, and inexpensive cysteine detection. Herein, we present the synthesis and application of a benzimidazole-based fluorescent probe (ABIA) along with the design and development of a portable fluorescence spectrometer device (CysDDev) for detecting cysteine in simulated human urine. ABIA showed excellent selectivity and sensitivity in detecting cysteine over homocysteine, glutathione, and other amino acids with the response time of 1 min and demonstrated a detection limit of 16.3 nM using the developed CysDDev. Further, ABIA also demonstrated its utility in detecting intracellular cysteine, making it an excellent probe for bio-imaging assay. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomarkers Used for the Diagnosis of Diseases)
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11 pages, 18066 KiB  
Communication
Self-Powered Biosensor for Specifically Detecting Creatinine in Real Time Based on the Piezo-Enzymatic-Reaction Effect of Enzyme-Modified ZnO Nanowires
by Meng Wang, Guangting Zi, Jiajun Liu, Yutong Song, Xishan Zhao, Qi Wang and Tianming Zhao
Biosensors 2021, 11(9), 342; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/bios11090342 - 16 Sep 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2635
Abstract
Creatinine has become an important indicator for the early detection of uremia. However, due to the disadvantages of external power supply and large volume, some commercial devices for detecting creatinine concentration have lost a lot of popularity in everyday life. This paper describes [...] Read more.
Creatinine has become an important indicator for the early detection of uremia. However, due to the disadvantages of external power supply and large volume, some commercial devices for detecting creatinine concentration have lost a lot of popularity in everyday life. This paper describes the development of a self-powered biosensor for detecting creatinine in sweat. The biosensor can detect human creatinine levels in real time without the need for an external power source, providing information about the body’s overall health. The piezoelectric output voltage of creatininase/creatinase/sarcosine oxidase-modified ZnO nanowires (NWs) is significantly dependent on the creatinine concentration due to the coupling effect of the piezoelectric effect and enzymatic reaction (piezo-enzymatic-reaction effect), which can be regarded as both electrical energy and biosensing signal. Our results can be used for the detection of creatinine levels in the human body and have great potential in the prediction of related diseases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomarkers Used for the Diagnosis of Diseases)
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10 pages, 1643 KiB  
Article
Highly Sensitive Detection and Differentiation of Endotoxins Derived from Bacterial Pathogens by Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering
by Xiaomeng Wu, Yiping Zhao and Susu M. Zughaier
Biosensors 2021, 11(7), 234; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/bios11070234 - 11 Jul 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3086
Abstract
Bacterial endotoxins, as major components of Gram-negative bacterial outer membrane leaflets and a well-characterized TLR4-MD-2 ligand, are lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) that are constantly shed from bacteria during growth and infection. For the first time, we report that unique surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of [...] Read more.
Bacterial endotoxins, as major components of Gram-negative bacterial outer membrane leaflets and a well-characterized TLR4-MD-2 ligand, are lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) that are constantly shed from bacteria during growth and infection. For the first time, we report that unique surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of enteric LPSs from E. coli, S. typhimurium, S. minnesota, V. cholerae, Rhizobium species R. CE3, and R. NGR, as well as Neisseria meningitidis endotoxin structures, LPSs, lipid A, and KDO2-lipid A can be obtained. The characteristic peaks of the SERS spectra reveal that most of the tested LPS structures are from lipids and saccharides, i.e., the major components of LPSs, and these spectra can be successfully used to differentiate between endotoxins with principal components analysis. In addition, all the LPS samples here are measured at a concentration of 10 nmole/mL, which corresponds to their relevant pathophysiological concentrations in clinical infections. This study demonstrates that LPSs can be used as biomarkers for the highly sensitive detection of bacteria using SERS-based methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomarkers Used for the Diagnosis of Diseases)
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Review

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21 pages, 898 KiB  
Review
On Demand Biosensors for Early Diagnosis of Cancer and Immune Checkpoints Blockade Therapy Monitoring from Liquid Biopsy
by Sai Mummareddy, Stuti Pradhan, Ashwin Kumar Narasimhan and Arutselvan Natarajan
Biosensors 2021, 11(12), 500; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/bios11120500 - 07 Dec 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 6570
Abstract
Recently, considerable interest has emerged in the development of biosensors to detect biomarkers and immune checkpoints to identify and measure cancer through liquid biopsies. The detection of cancer biomarkers from a small volume of blood is relatively fast compared to the gold standard [...] Read more.
Recently, considerable interest has emerged in the development of biosensors to detect biomarkers and immune checkpoints to identify and measure cancer through liquid biopsies. The detection of cancer biomarkers from a small volume of blood is relatively fast compared to the gold standard of tissue biopsies. Traditional immuno-histochemistry (IHC) requires tissue samples obtained using invasive procedures and specific expertise as well as sophisticated instruments. Furthermore, the turnaround for IHC assays is usually several days. To overcome these challenges, on-demand biosensor-based assays were developed to provide more immediate prognostic information for clinicians. Novel rapid, highly precise, and sensitive approaches have been under investigation using physical and biochemical methods to sense biomarkers. Additionally, interest in understanding immune checkpoints has facilitated the rapid detection of cancer prognosis from liquid biopsies. Typically, these devices combine various classes of detectors with digital outputs for the measurement of soluble cancer or immune checkpoint (IC) markers from liquid biopsy samples. These sensor devices have two key advantages: (a) a small volume of blood drawn from the patient is sufficient for analysis, and (b) it could aid physicians in quickly selecting and deciding the appropriate therapy regime for the patients (e.g., immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy). In this review, we will provide updates on potential cancer markers, various biosensors in cancer diagnosis, and the corresponding limits of detection, while focusing on biosensor development for IC marker detection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomarkers Used for the Diagnosis of Diseases)
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19 pages, 3297 KiB  
Review
Recent Progress in Electrochemical Immunosensors
by JeeYoung Kim and Min Park
Biosensors 2021, 11(10), 360; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/bios11100360 - 29 Sep 2021
Cited by 38 | Viewed by 4098
Abstract
Biosensors used for medical diagnosis work by analyzing physiological fluids. Antibodies have been frequently used as molecular recognition molecules for the specific binding of target analytes from complex biological solutions. Electrochemistry has been introduced for the measurement of quantitative signals from transducer-bound analytes [...] Read more.
Biosensors used for medical diagnosis work by analyzing physiological fluids. Antibodies have been frequently used as molecular recognition molecules for the specific binding of target analytes from complex biological solutions. Electrochemistry has been introduced for the measurement of quantitative signals from transducer-bound analytes for many reasons, including good sensitivity. Recently, numerous electrochemical immunosensors have been developed and various strategies have been proposed to detect biomarkers. In this paper, the recent progress in electrochemical immunosensors is reviewed. In particular, we focused on the immobilization methods using antibodies for voltammetric, amperometric, impedimetric, and electrochemiluminescent immunosensors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomarkers Used for the Diagnosis of Diseases)
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