The Emergence of Interdisciplinary Research in Cancer Diagnostics

Abstract

Cancer is the result of uncontrolled or poorly controlled proliferation of cells in an organism. It can be caused by wide varieties of reasons. The most prevalent causes of cancer are genetic mutation, inability to repair genes, and abnormal expression. These causes can be inherited or acquired or both over the life span of a host. For any disease to treat, the very first step is to detect its symptoms with reasonable confidence. Unfortunately, many cancer types go unnoticed for years until the host show noticeable symptoms and that makes it one of the most difficult physical conditions to detect. Due to this fact, cancer is often detected at the very later stage when the patients have very little or in many cases no options for treatment. That’s why it is extremely important to be able to detect cancer at an earlier stage. It can greatly increase the chances for successful treatment. Two major components of early detection of cancer play a pivotal role in cancer treatmentpublic awareness to promote early diagnosis and clinical screening. There are few ways that can lead to early diagnosis such as recognizing warning signs and taking prompt action. If the awareness of possible warning signs of cancer among the general public along with physicians, nurses and other healthcare can be increased, then it can have a great impact on the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Lumps, sores that fail to heal, abnormal bleeding, persistent indigestion, and chronic hoarseness are some early signs of cancer. Cancer screening involves the use of simple tests in order to identify individuals who have it, but do not have symptoms yet. The dictionary definition of a sensor is a device that detects or measures a physical quantity and records, indicates or otherwise responds to it. From broader perspective, biosensor or transducer is a device that converts the interaction between an analyte and an active element into a measurable signal. When tumor cells start over or under expressing any protein or other molecules, biosensors are the right tool to detect them at an early stage. The first biosensor dates back to 1962 when Professor Leland C. Clark explained the mechanism of an oxygen probe and how it can be used to detect a range of analytes that could be measured with it. At a Symposium in the New York Academy of Sciences, he described how to make a glucose sensor using the already developed oxygen sensor [1]. Since then, biosensors are being developed and used for a numerous molecules and biomarkersattributes that have strong correlation to the inception of a disease. Due to the multitudes of possibilities of biosensor, cancer researchers from various parts of the world quickly adopted this new method in cancer diagnostics. The primary steps involved in any biosensing are recognition of analyte, signal transduction, and readout. Biosensors offer exciting opportunities for numerous decentralized clinical applications due to their specificity, speed, portability, and low cost.