Aptamer-Based Blood Protein Detection Technology May Soon Be Used By Medical Laboratories in Tests for Cancer, Diabetes, and Other Diseases
Researchers believe that clinical laboratory assays that use aptamers would have multiple advantages when compared to diagnostic tests utilizing anti-bodies
New diagnostic technology has been developed that has the potential to accurately detect such diseases as cancer and diabetes, even when the patient is pre-symptomatic. Not only would medical laboratory tests using this technology be low cost and portable, but some experts think that diagnostic assays using this technology could make it through the regulatory process and be cleared for clinical use in just five years or less.
This highly-sensitive diagnostic technology is able to detect specific proteins in human blood. It was developed by a research team at the University of Toledo in Ohio. Last fall, they published their findings in the Optical Society’s (OSA) open-access journal, Biomedical Optics Express.
