2021/07/05
Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University
A group led by Professor Tomoyoshi Soga and Technician Kaori Igarashi at the Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University (hereinafter "IAB"), located in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture (Director: Masaru Tomita), has developed a multiplex analysis technology using capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) and has succeeded in measuring polyamines, which are cancer markers in saliva, in one minute.
Polyamines were known to increase rapidly in the saliva and urine of patients with cancers such as colorectal and pancreatic cancer, but existing methods required more than 10 minutes to measure a single sample.
The multiplex analysis technology using CE-MS developed by the research group now makes it possible to measure 40 saliva samples at once in 40 minutes (just one minute per sample). Furthermore, when this method was applied to measure polyamines in saliva samples collected by Professor Masahiro Sugimoto and his colleagues at Tokyo Medical University, it was able to distinguish between colorectal cancer patients and non-cancer patients with high accuracy.
This method enables the rapid and high-precision measurement of low-molecular-weight markers, which has been difficult until now, and is a technology that will allow for further clinical applications.
These research findings were published in the online edition of the analytical chemistry journal "Journal of Chromatography A" on July 5, 2021 (JST).
Please see below for the full press release.