Rapid Near-Patient Impedimetric Sensing Platform for Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

Area of Science:

• Electrochemistry
• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis heavily relies on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, which has limitations.
• There is a critical need for accurate, rapid, and reliable point-of-care (POC) diagnostic devices for early PCa detection.
• Electrochemical biosensors offer promising miniaturization and amenability for POC applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an impedimetric sensing platform for detecting urinary zinc (UZn).
• To engineer a sensor with enhanced porosity and sensitivity for UZn detection.
• To validate the sensor's performance using artificial and clinical urine samples, comparing results with ICP-MS.

Main Methods:

• Development of a label-free impedimetric sensing platform using a cellulose acetate/reduced graphene oxide composite.
• Surface modification to introduce porosity for enhanced UZn capture and interaction.
• Integration of zincon as an external dopant to amplify sensor sensitivity.
• Testing with artificial and clinical urine samples, with validation against inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

Main Results:

• The developed sensor achieved a limit of detection of 7.33 ng/mL within a dynamic range of 0.1-1000 ng/mL.
• Sensor results showed a strong correlation (R=0.991) with ICP-MS for artificial urine samples.
• Clinical urine samples from prostate cancer patients demonstrated highly comparable results between the sensor and ICP-MS (R²=0.964, p=0.936).

Conclusions:

• The developed impedimetric biosensor reliably detects urinary zinc (UZn).
• The sensor exhibits high sensitivity and accuracy, comparable to ICP-MS.
• This platform shows significant potential as a point-of-care diagnostic tool for prostate cancer, improving early detection capabilities.