Bcl-2 (B-cell lymphoma 2) is a protein that is directly related with apoptosis of healthy selleck products and cancer cells [16]. Apoptosis is the most common form of programmed cell death (cellular autophagocytosis, anoikis and necrosis are other forms). It has several other crucial functions, such as formation of the embryo, tissue maintenance, cellular homeostasis, terminating immune responses, and restricting the spreading of infections [17]. The Bcl-2 family, named after the Bcl-2 protein itself, includes both anti-apoptic and pro-apoptic constituents that control the release of catalysts of cell death. It was previously shown that urinary Bcl-2 levels are elevated during different stages of ovarian cancer [18,19].
Clinical validation of urinary Bcl-2 as a reliable biomarker for ovarian cancer was conducted with ELISA tests using urine samples collected from 388 patients, including healthy controls and patients with benign gynecological disorders, early- and late-stage ovarian cancer [18]. The average urinary level of Bcl-2 was found to be 0.59 ng/mL in healthy controls, 1.12 ng/mL in benign disorders, 2.60 ng/mL in early-stage ovarian cancer and 3.58 ng/mL in late-stage ovarian cancer. The highest Bcl-2 concentration observed in the study was around 10 ng/mL. The number of samples, average concentration, and standard deviation of Bcl-2 for these four patient groups are listed in Table 1. Signs of poor early stage diagnosis can be observed from the table of samples included in this study which represents actual availability of samples from tissue banks containing each stage of samples.
Thus, analyzing the values in Table 1, the minimum detectable target concentration of Bcl-2 was chosen to be 0.5 ng/mL for design and for experimental characterization studies reported herein.Table 1.Elevated urinary Bcl-2 in cohorts for healthy controls, Dacomitinib benign diseases, and early- and late-stage ovarian cancer (N:388) [18].The efficacy of Bcl-2 as a biomarker for ovarian cancer was further validated by comparison to CA125 serum levels using ELISA tests on 35 samples from the same cohort [18]. The comparison of Bcl-2 and CA125 levels for the same samples shows efficacy of Bcl-2 as a urinary ovarian cancer biomarker for reliable dual screening with CA125.The studied biosensor employs shear horizontal (SH) surface acoustic waves (SAWs) to identify mass loading changes caused by Bcl-2 binding specifically to antibodies on the sensor surface.
It is composed of a pair of interdigital transducers (IDTs) microfabricated on ST-cut Quartz wafers in the direction 90�� off x-axis and delay path specifically functionalized to capture Bcl-2 proteins while minimizing non-specific adsorption (Figure 1). An experimentally-verified optimized surface functionalization scheme www.selleckchem.com/products/Imatinib-Mesylate.html was employed for effective capture of Bcl-2 protein while maximizing sensitivity and selectivity.