This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. This Proposal addresses the area of Biomedical Diagnostics for Early Detection of Cancer Biomarkers. Despite recent improvements in early detection and treatment, cancer is still one of the major causes of death in the world. Early cancer detection coupled with new therapies holds the best current hope to change this fact. The major goal is to develop biosensor arrays to measure a number of biomarker proteins in patients at low cost. Measuring patterns of cancer biomarkers in patients can lead to reliable early diagnosis of tobacco-related cancers, facilitate risk assessment for individuals, and foster new cancer therapies. Biosensor arrays for this task are not available, and will be developed in this project. The long-term goal of our research is to measure collections of cancer biomarkers in serum and to correlate results to incidence and onset of cancer in tobacco users. Our initial targets are the tumor suppressor factor p53, and established cancer biomarker proteins VEGF, IL-6 and IL-8. Two major new approaches for sensitive detection of cancer biomarkers will be developed. These are;1) bioelectronic arrays and 2) surface plasmon resonance sensors. After successful development, optimization, and validation, we will use these biosensors to examine cancer biomarker levels (mutant p53), VEGF, IL-6 and IL-8) in serum of smokers and non-smokers. This project will enable rapid assessment of important correlations between biomarker patterns and tobacco-related cancer. It will also lead to point-of-care arrays for cancer detection, tobacco-related risk assessment, and foster new cancer preventing treatments tailored to individual patients.
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