Development of a nanowire-based assay for cancer biomarker detection in complex biological fluids

Abstract

The cost of delivering healthcare continues to increase to phenomenal proportions with lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer and prostate cancer accounting for the majority of the economic burden associated with cancer care in the EU. In this era of personalised medicine, medical treatments can now be selected and tailored depending on the specific biomarker profile of the patient. Multiplexed analysis of biomarkers is seen as a necessity for improving the future of biomarker-guided medicine. Nanomaterials are seen as one potential avenue for investigation in an attempt to reduce assay costs and increase multiplexing capabilities, and one of the key enabling technologies in the development of the next generation of clinical diagnostic assays.