Detecting Single Cancer Molecules
June 3, 2010 | Source: Technology Review
A highly sensitive new technology capable of detecting a single, cancer-linked molecule in blood, to predict the recurrence of prostate cancer, has been developed by Quanterix.
The detection technology counts the number of prostate specific antigen (PSA) molecules released by the cells of the prostate gland into the blood.
PSA molecules are trapped on beads and isolated individually on arrays of tiny wells. A fluorescent enzyme added to the array lights up when it binds to PSA, revealing the number of PSA molecules in the sample. (Quanterix)
