Few-Layer Graphene-Based Optical Nanobiosensors for the Early-Stage Detection of Ovarian Cancer Using Liquid Biopsy and an Active Learning Strategy

Ovarian cancer survival depends strongly on the time of diagnosis. Detection at stage 1 must be the goal of liquid biopsies for ovarian cancer detection. We report the development and validation of graphene-based optical nanobiosensors (G-NBSs) that quantify the activities of a panel of proteases, w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Obdulia Covarrubias-Zambrano, Deepesh Agarwal, Joan Lewis-Wambi, Raul Neri, Andrea Jewell, Balasubramaniam Natarajan, Stefan H. Bossmann
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-03-01
Series:Cells
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/14/5/375
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850225630090625024
author Obdulia Covarrubias-Zambrano
Deepesh Agarwal
Joan Lewis-Wambi
Raul Neri
Andrea Jewell
Balasubramaniam Natarajan
Stefan H. Bossmann
author_facet Obdulia Covarrubias-Zambrano
Deepesh Agarwal
Joan Lewis-Wambi
Raul Neri
Andrea Jewell
Balasubramaniam Natarajan
Stefan H. Bossmann
author_sort Obdulia Covarrubias-Zambrano
collection DOAJ
description Ovarian cancer survival depends strongly on the time of diagnosis. Detection at stage 1 must be the goal of liquid biopsies for ovarian cancer detection. We report the development and validation of graphene-based optical nanobiosensors (G-NBSs) that quantify the activities of a panel of proteases, which were selected to provide a crowd response that is specific for ovarian cancer. These G-NBSs consist of few-layer explosion graphene featuring a hydrophilic coating, which is linked to fluorescently labeled highly selective consensus sequences for the proteases of interest, as well as a fluorescent dye. The panel of G-NBSs showed statistically significant differences in protease activities when comparing localized (early-stage) ovarian cancer with both metastatic (late-stage) and healthy control groups. A hierarchical framework integrated with active learning (AL) as a prediction and analysis tool for early-stage detection of ovarian cancer was implemented, which obtained an overall accuracy score of 94.5%, with both a sensitivity and specificity of 0.94.
format Article
id doaj-art-c3307e1a1e904a8bba59fc2dcfbb0e99
institution OA Journals
issn 2073-4409
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Cells
spelling doaj-art-c3307e1a1e904a8bba59fc2dcfbb0e992025-08-20T02:05:17ZengMDPI AGCells2073-44092025-03-0114537510.3390/cells14050375Few-Layer Graphene-Based Optical Nanobiosensors for the Early-Stage Detection of Ovarian Cancer Using Liquid Biopsy and an Active Learning StrategyObdulia Covarrubias-Zambrano0Deepesh Agarwal1Joan Lewis-Wambi2Raul Neri3Andrea Jewell4Balasubramaniam Natarajan5Stefan H. Bossmann6Department of Cancer Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USADepartment of Cancer Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USADepartment of Cancer Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USADepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USADepartment of Cancer Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USAOvarian cancer survival depends strongly on the time of diagnosis. Detection at stage 1 must be the goal of liquid biopsies for ovarian cancer detection. We report the development and validation of graphene-based optical nanobiosensors (G-NBSs) that quantify the activities of a panel of proteases, which were selected to provide a crowd response that is specific for ovarian cancer. These G-NBSs consist of few-layer explosion graphene featuring a hydrophilic coating, which is linked to fluorescently labeled highly selective consensus sequences for the proteases of interest, as well as a fluorescent dye. The panel of G-NBSs showed statistically significant differences in protease activities when comparing localized (early-stage) ovarian cancer with both metastatic (late-stage) and healthy control groups. A hierarchical framework integrated with active learning (AL) as a prediction and analysis tool for early-stage detection of ovarian cancer was implemented, which obtained an overall accuracy score of 94.5%, with both a sensitivity and specificity of 0.94.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/14/5/375graphene-based nanobiosensorsbiomarkersliquid biopsyovarian cancer detectionprotease activitybiophotonics
spellingShingle Obdulia Covarrubias-Zambrano
Deepesh Agarwal
Joan Lewis-Wambi
Raul Neri
Andrea Jewell
Balasubramaniam Natarajan
Stefan H. Bossmann
Few-Layer Graphene-Based Optical Nanobiosensors for the Early-Stage Detection of Ovarian Cancer Using Liquid Biopsy and an Active Learning Strategy
Cells
graphene-based nanobiosensors
biomarkers
liquid biopsy
ovarian cancer detection
protease activity
biophotonics
title Few-Layer Graphene-Based Optical Nanobiosensors for the Early-Stage Detection of Ovarian Cancer Using Liquid Biopsy and an Active Learning Strategy
title_full Few-Layer Graphene-Based Optical Nanobiosensors for the Early-Stage Detection of Ovarian Cancer Using Liquid Biopsy and an Active Learning Strategy
title_fullStr Few-Layer Graphene-Based Optical Nanobiosensors for the Early-Stage Detection of Ovarian Cancer Using Liquid Biopsy and an Active Learning Strategy
title_full_unstemmed Few-Layer Graphene-Based Optical Nanobiosensors for the Early-Stage Detection of Ovarian Cancer Using Liquid Biopsy and an Active Learning Strategy
title_short Few-Layer Graphene-Based Optical Nanobiosensors for the Early-Stage Detection of Ovarian Cancer Using Liquid Biopsy and an Active Learning Strategy
title_sort few layer graphene based optical nanobiosensors for the early stage detection of ovarian cancer using liquid biopsy and an active learning strategy
topic graphene-based nanobiosensors
biomarkers
liquid biopsy
ovarian cancer detection
protease activity
biophotonics
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/14/5/375
work_keys_str_mv AT obduliacovarrubiaszambrano fewlayergraphenebasedopticalnanobiosensorsfortheearlystagedetectionofovariancancerusingliquidbiopsyandanactivelearningstrategy
AT deepeshagarwal fewlayergraphenebasedopticalnanobiosensorsfortheearlystagedetectionofovariancancerusingliquidbiopsyandanactivelearningstrategy
AT joanlewiswambi fewlayergraphenebasedopticalnanobiosensorsfortheearlystagedetectionofovariancancerusingliquidbiopsyandanactivelearningstrategy
AT raulneri fewlayergraphenebasedopticalnanobiosensorsfortheearlystagedetectionofovariancancerusingliquidbiopsyandanactivelearningstrategy
AT andreajewell fewlayergraphenebasedopticalnanobiosensorsfortheearlystagedetectionofovariancancerusingliquidbiopsyandanactivelearningstrategy
AT balasubramaniamnatarajan fewlayergraphenebasedopticalnanobiosensorsfortheearlystagedetectionofovariancancerusingliquidbiopsyandanactivelearningstrategy
AT stefanhbossmann fewlayergraphenebasedopticalnanobiosensorsfortheearlystagedetectionofovariancancerusingliquidbiopsyandanactivelearningstrategy