BIOCHIP FOR THE EARLY DETECTION OF CANCER

A unique test system has been developed in Russia, which has no analogues in the world, to detect any malignant neoplasms. With the help of this innovation, it is possible to determine the presence or absence of a malignant neoplasm in a patient at the first visit to the Hospital.
This is a really unique test system for determining any malignant neoplasms, and there are no analogues in the world.
Fellows of the N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center – the largest cancer center in Russia and Europe, one of the largest cancer centers in the world with the latest equipment and all advanced cancer diagnostic and treatment methods, together with colleagues from the Academician I.N. Blokhina Nizhny Novgorod Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology have developed a unique test system for immunocytochemical research. The test system was named “Biochip”. It allows to quickly detect the type and location of tumor and the presence of metastases. With the help of this innovation, it is possible to determine the presence or absence of a malignant neoplasm in a patient at the first visit to the Hospital.

The test system is designed in such a way that it can be easily and quickly distributed throughout the country.
The Biochip is a fundamentally new invention. In 2016, the test system was registered in Russia for scientific purposes and received an international patent.

The test system is designed to detect any malignant neoplasms: cancer, melanoma, lymphoma. It is a biochip, a scanner for digitizing the results and a growth medium for storing biomaterial.
The biochip is a substrate divided into 15 cells, into which different antibodies are introduced. The biomaterial taken from a patient for analysis (pathological body fluid or a puncture from the neoplasm) must be processed on a standard centrifuge, which is available in any laboratory, and then put into cells where a reaction occurs when heated up to 37 degrees. Fluorochromic tags are added to the antibodies to visualize the reaction. When the antigen of a malignant neoplasm cell reacts with the antibody, the cell begins to glow. By this glow, it is possible to determine whether there are tumor cells in the sample or not. The reaction is almost instantaneous. The technology makes the analysis three times faster than the standard method and three times cheaper. The test can be made in any medical clinic.

Although the biochip can be used to distinguish between benign and malignant tumors, doctors do not suggest testing everyone for cancer in this way. Fluid or cells of abnormal tissue are punctured for analysis.
For example, a patient went to an internist with a complaint of swelling in the neck. This could be common lymphadenitis, a cyst in the neck, an allergic reaction to an insect bite, or a soft tissue sarcoma of the neck. And if the patient has fluid in the lungs, the cause may be tuberculosis, pneumonia, cancer metastasis, mesothelioma. The new test system can determine where to look for the cause.
For widespread implementation of this test system there is no need in oncologists in every Hospital. All that is needed is to equip each laboratory with biochips and scanners. Preferably, it should have a stock of test tubes with a growth medium. This is also the development of the authors of the project. Growth medium is a tightly sealed tube in which the biomaterial is put. The tube contains preservatives that inhibit microbial growth. In this environment, the biomaterial can be stored without refrigeration for up to a month.
The doctor should puncture and put the sample pathological material into the growth medium, and then onto the biochip. After that, he places the test system in the scanner, which will forward the image to the specialist.
Biochip Research and Development Company in Nizhny Novgorod has launched small-scale production of biochips. The equipment for automated production of biochips was made from scratch, since there were no analogues in the world, and therefore there were no solutions. Scanners are also being produced in Nizhny Novgorod by the order and technical specifications of the RDC Biochip. All production is carried out in Russia. The final cost of each device will be 10 times less than an imported analog.
Oncology specialists confirm the need for mass introduction of this type of diagnostics. Indeed, there is a problem with the availability of diagnostics in remote regions, and such developments can solve this matter. The advantage of biochip diagnostics is its pragmatic nature – in conditions of shortage of funding for medical institutions, such a test system can solve some of the problems.
According to the chief oncologist of the Ministry of Health, such systems should be widespread, and not only within the country.
In 2017, the N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center fellows, the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Oncology Dispensary, and the Biochip Research and Development Company won in the category “For the Creation of a New Diagnostic Method” and awarded the “Prizvanie” award (given to the best doctors in Russia) for the development of the biochip for detecting various types of cancer.