Author ORCID Identifier
Document Type
Report
Publication Date
Winter 12-1-2019
Abstract
Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) affects 53,000 Americans each year making it the sixth most common cancer in the United States. The incidence rate may be even higher since current screening methods are underutilized and physical examinations can misdiagnose malignant oral tumors as benign inflammatory lesions. Recent advances in genetic, protein, and extracellular vesicle biomarker detection techniques can monitor the transformation of healthy cells into tumors before terminal stages arise. Biomarkers can be easily extracted from biofluids such as saliva making them less invasive than traditional tissue biopsies. One biomarker prevalent in OSCC is exosomes, which are extracellular vesicles that aid in intercellular communication as well as contain oncogenic miRNA, and proteins that signal for tumor growth and metastasis. Previous use of exosomes was limited due to the difficulty of obtaining and measuring the molecular contents. Electric field-induced release and measurement (EFIRM) is a novel liquid biopsy technique capable of detecting OSCC and additional systemic diseases by monitoring biomarkers such as exosomes present in saliva. EFIRM uses electrochemical waves to release the contents of exosomes and then immediately measure the contents with a low voltage wave before the molecules can degrade. This method eliminates the need for expensive laboratory tests and allows health care providers to catch OSCC early on reducing patient mortality.
Keywords
oral, mouth, biomarker, EFIRM, miRNA
Language
English
Rights
© The Author(s).
Recommended Citation
Holladay, Bram, "Identifying exosomes in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma with EFIRM" (2019). Student Scholarship. 650.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/650
Included in
Medical Genetics Commons, Medical Molecular Biology Commons, Medical Pathology Commons, Oral Biology and Oral Pathology Commons