Gold nanoparticle-enabled blood test for early stage cancer detection and risk assessment.

When citrate ligands-capped gold nanoparticles are mixed with blood sera, a protein corona is formed on the nanoparticle surface due to the adsorption of various proteins in the blood to the nanoparticles. Using a two-step gold nanoparticle-enabled dynamic light scattering assay, we discovered that the amount of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) in the gold nanoparticle protein corona is increased in prostate cancer patients compared to noncancer controls. Two pilot studies conducted on blood serum samples collected at Florida Hospital and obtained from Prostate Cancer Biorespository Network (PCBN) revealed that the test has a 90-95% specificity and 50% sensitivity in detecting early stage prostate cancer, representing a significant improvement over the current PSA test.

Developing a nanoparticle test for prostate cancer scoring.

Background: Over-diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer has been a major problem in prostate cancer care and management. Currently the most relevant prognostic factor to predict a patient's risk of death due to prostate cancer is the Gleason score of the biopsied tissue samples. However, pathological analysis is subjective, and the Gleason score is only a qualitative estimate of the cancer malignancy.

Second opinion of anatomical pathology: a complex issue not easily reduced to matters of right and wrong.

Purpose: We discuss the subject of a second opinion for interpretations of anatomical pathology from the perspective of patient care.

Materials And Methods: We grouped 150 cases involving pathological review at our institution into 3 categories depending on the effect on patient care.

Results: Of 29 interpretive discrepancies 14 resulted in treatment changes but 7 of these 14 may have been interpreted differently by other practice groups.

The bladder tumor antigen (BTA) test compared to voided urine cytology in the detection of bladder neoplasms.

Purpose: Tests to detect recurrent bladder neoplasms are limited and none is consistently accurate. Recent studies suggest that the bladder tumor antigen (BTA) test, an agglutination reaction for basement membrane complexes, is superior to voided urine cytology in clinical practice. We compared BTA and voided urine cytology to bladder washings and cystoscopy, emphasizing diagnostic yield among patients with causes of basement membrane complexes other than bladder cancer.