Nanosponges harvest rare cancer marker from blood

Cancer researchers have long hypothesized that tumors release small amounts of proteins that could serve as earlier diagnostic indicators of cancer, but the search for such biomarkers has been hampered by the presence of large quantities of other proteins, such albumin, found in the blood and by the fact that these trace proteins are often unstable in blood. Now, an international research team from the United States and Italy has shown that it can use a new type of nanoparticle to selectively trap specific families of proteins from blood and protect them from degradation by enzymes in blood.

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