علیرضا پاسدار

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal among female malignancies. So far, treatment improvements have affected patient survival, but it is still more important to provide an early diagnosis that can detect the disease in its early stages. Therefore, introducing a rapid, accurate, and low-cost method to disease detection can be important and necessary.

This study introduced a rapid and accurate tool for ovarian cancer detection by its specific biomarker. For this purpose, after modifying the working electrode surface with nanocomposite, the specific single-stranded DNA probe was immobilized on its surface. Then the target sequence hybridization was investigated by measuring the electrochemical oxidation response of methylene blue.

Under optimal conditions, The DNA biosensor showed a linear range from 50pM to 500 nM with a low detection limit of 0.0012 pM. The DNA assay platform was also successfully used to detect target DNA added to blood serum, and its recovery was reported to be between 89.96 and 103.90%. 

The designed electrochemical nanobiosensor can be used for the early detection of epithelial ovarian cancer with desirable sensitivity and efficiency.

Breast carcinoma is the most common cause of cancer mortality among women globally. Primary and secondary prevention through avoiding known risk factors, screening for early detection of tumors with different methods as well as timely treatment, can be effective in reduction of the burden of this devastating disease. This can in turn prevent death and also increase survival in patients with breast cancer. Both environmental and genetic factors are involved in the pathogenesis of breast cancer. Multiple genetic factors can influence the risk and development of breast cancer. Identification of genetic variants including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which are associated with the risk of breast cancer development, are mostly done through genetic association studies. It is demonstrated that SNP allele frequencies vary amongst different populations. It has been shown that genetic risk factors like variations in TOX high mobility group box family member 3 (TOX3), which affect the liability for neoplasm, play an important role in the development of breast cancer. Although TOX3 is expressed mainly in the brain, its expression in other tissues especially breast has also been reported. TOX3 maps to chromosome 16q12 and encodes the nuclear high-mobility group (HMG)-box. It has calcium (Ca2)-dependent transcriptional activities and is a co-factor of cAMP response element (CRE)-binding protein (CREB) and CREB-binding protein (CBP). TOX3, activated with Ca2, is related with activation of the promoter of some other genes including BCL2 and C3 complement and also CITED1 gene expression. It also induces activation of the c-fos promoter and therefore its expression. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in different populations including European, Asian and African-American have demonstrated that a SNP near its 5ʹ end and the promoter of TOX3 gene appears to be significantly associated with breast cancer susceptibility. Furthermore, breast cancer–associated SNPs lead to enhanced FOXA1 bindings and in turn, a reduction in TOX3 gene expression. This review has highlighted the importance of TOX3 function, SNPs and its association with breast cancer risk and also its potential effects on breast cancer treatment; TOX3 plays dual and somehow conflicting roles in cancer initiation and progression which remains to be further investigated.