Biosensor system for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer from Turkish academics

Assoc. Prof. from Çankırı Karatekin University (ÇAKÜ), Faculty of Science, Department of Analytical Chemistry. Dr. Melike Bilgi Kamaç and her team and Prof. from Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (ÇOMÜ), Faculty of Engineering, Department of Bioengineering. Dr. Mustafa Kemal Sezgintürk started working on early diagnosis of ovarian cancer with the support of TÜBİTAK 1001 Program in 2018.

As a result of the studies carried out, electrochemical biosensor systems that simultaneously measure biomarkers that are important for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer have been developed.

The system developed by the project team consisting of academics from ÇAKÜ and ÇOMÜ will allow results to be obtained in a short time without the need for a laboratory environment, called "point-of-care tests" in the field of health.

Biosensors, which are disposable and can perform multiple analyzes at the same time, will play an important role in monitoring neurological processes, especially in the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

The process for patenting and commercializing the product continues.

Kamaç told the AA correspondent that with the biosensor systems they developed, patients can measure themselves at home with a drop of blood, just like measuring blood sugar.

Emphasizing that the biggest advantage of the study is that measurements can be made in 20-30 seconds, Kamaç said, "While in traditional methods, experts use long hours and expensive techniques in laboratories to obtain results not on the same day, but the next day or the next day, we have developed a system that gives faster results at a lower cost. Of course, this is not only for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Let's say that ovarian cancer is diagnosed. It is also a test that we can do to monitor whether chemotherapy is effective in the treatment of cancer, because routine tests are both very expensive and specialized." "It is both time consuming and a doctor can measure it quickly in his own clinic. If it is commercialized and sold in pharmacies, patients can check themselves quickly at home." he said.

Kamaç explained that in the second TÜBİTAK 1001 project, accepted in 2022, they are carrying out a study to simultaneously measure 4 different potential biomarkers related to ovarian cancer and continued as follows:

"Strips (test sticks) used at the tip, such as those in glucometers (blood sugar measuring devices), are normally purchased from abroad and their prices are very high. In this project, we produced these strips ourselves in the laboratory with our team. The electrodes we produced were designed to measure both the biomarker of ovarian cancer and 4 different biomarkers at the same time. We have applied for a patent for both these electrode production processes and the disposable and low-cost electrochemical panel systems we developed for the diagnosis of ovarian cancer biomarkers." "we were found."