The aim of the project
DIANA
is to develop reliable,
quick, and label-free diagnostic techniques for genomic DNA using
Raman analysis of target molecules directly deposited on nanostructured
substrates.
To this end, the peculiarities of the mechanical interaction between
silver-coated silicon nanowires and the DNA molecules will be exploited.
The scope of the project is the construction of a simple and low cost
prototype in which commercial Raman microscopes are used to analyse
the DNA molecules directly deposited on a standard glass microscope slides.
Cancer is becoming the real health emergency on a global scale.
It is estimated that in our country there are approximately 371,000 new
diagnoses of cancer annually. This is confirmed by the data of the
Italian Cancer Registry Association (AIRTUM) for 2019 [1]. However, in
recent years there has also been a strong improvement in the cure rates:
63% of women and 57% of men are alive five years after diagnosis. This
is mainly due to the greater adherence to screening campaigns, which
make it possible to identify the disease at an early stage, and to
the greater effectiveness of the therapies.
In recent decades, the life expectancy of cancer patients has in fact
changed substantially thanks to the progress of basic and clinical research.
These results are mainly due to the implementation of
diagnostic and prognostic tools,
one of the technological fields with the highest
rate of development internationally. The impact that biomedical technologies
and sciences have on health is a driving socio-economic factor, and it is
expected that as molecular and predictive medicine progresses, technology
will also be progressively integrated into the clinical laboratory.
In fact,
innovation in diagnostic and
therapeutic techniques
stimulated
by scientific and technological advances in numerous fields (biology,
biotechnology, physical chemistry, computer science, nanotechnology,
electronics and materials science) not only leads to the improvement
of the effectiveness of performance, but also generates new skills
which in turn have an impact on other innovation processes that affect
treatment techniques, additional devices, the sphere of the organization
of health services.
In particular,
tumor DNA testing has
recently entered a new
era thanks to advances in technology.
The
analysis of DNA molecules, aimed
at highlighting
changes in a gene and studying the topological variations or the genome
of a person, allows us to investigate the different stages in the development
of a tumor and study its biomarkers. New sophisticated technologies and
scientific progress coupled with excellent research networks are rapidly
leading to important new diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities with
a significant impact on basic research and cancer treatment that will
have substantial public health effects in the near future. It is
therefore important to foster a strategy focused on the optimization
and experimentation of new joint and interdisciplinary actions, to
respond to the growing and urgent demand for more precise, rapid
and possibly low-cost methods that increase knowledge of tumor
DNA and improve treatment and care for patients.
In this context,
Nanomedicine, that is the application of
nanomaterials and nanotechnologies in the diagnostic and therapeutic field,
is one of the greatest scientific innovations of recent years [3].
Thanks to the nanometric dimensions, the high surface/volume ratio,
and the ability to modify the shape and surface chemistry,
nanomaterials interact and interface effectively
with biological systems
(cells, DNA, proteins, etc). This will allow in the coming
years to develop therapies capable of acting at the molecular level
and diagnostic methods of high sensitivity and precision.
The novelty of the DIANA platform in the field of nano-oncology [4] is
not limited to the nanometric dimensionality of the probe
structures (silicon nanowires) and the economic advantages due to the
simplicity of manufacturing of the involved materials and operating
procedures, but lies in a
profound change of perspective
capable of
revolutionizing the bioanalytical approach underlying genomic DNA
investigations. DIANA has in fact the ambition
to grasp the
information content inherent in the structural properties of DNA,
exploiting the phenomena related to the deposition and dehydration
of the target molecules on a three-dimensional nanostructured
surface capable of
probing the physical and conformational
properties, identifying those related to development neoplastic.
For the validation of the nanostructured platform DIANA,
human melanoma
has been chosen as a model of neoplasm, a skin cancer that is very
widespread and continuously increasing in recent decades, even if
the proposed technique may be tested in the future for other forms
of neoplasms.
The success of the project will introduce a new reliable, rapid,
label-free DNA analysis methodology and an alternative to the more
sophisticated and expensive DNA sequencing methodology.
[1] www.registri-tumori.it (vedi report “I numeri de Cancro in Italia, 2019”)
[2] www.airc.it/cancro/informazioni-tumori/guida-ai-tumori/melanoma-cutaneo
[3] Jain KK (2008) A handbook of nanoMedicina. Totowa NJ: Humana/Springer; 2008.
[4] Jain KK (2010) Advances in the field of nanooncology BMC Med 8:83.
