title: Application of immuno-PCR for the detection of early stage cancer.
abstract: Cancer detection in premalignant stage is directly related with increase survival rate. Several biomarkers have been investigated and characterized for monitoring changes inside the cancerous cells. Although enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the method of choice in clinical practice for detecting biomarkers in serum/urine samples. However, in certain malignancies the amount of biomarkers before reaching metastasis are too low to be detected by conventional ELISA. The seminal work of Sano et al. led to the development of highly sensitive and powerful detection method, the immuno-PCR (iPCR), which can detect very small amount of antigens/biomarkers. In spite of, several publications on iPCR sensitivity, it has not been recommended for clinical use and is limited to the scientific community only. In order to evaluate the importance of iPCR, we have made an effort to collect published studies, supporting the use of iPCR in detecting premalignant cancer.
authors: Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, International Campus, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Amjad Hayat
authors: AH
authors: Khan
authors: Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, International Campus, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: sadroddiny@sina.tums.ac.ir.
authors: Esmaeil
authors: E
authors: Sadroddiny
mesh_terms: D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000379:methods*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Biomarker; Cancer screening; Early cancer detection; Immuno-PCR; Immuno-polymerase chain reaction