<i>C. elegans</i> as a Powerful Tool for Cancer Screening

Regular cancer screening is critical for early cancer detection. Cancer screening tends to be burdensome, invasive, and expensive, especially for a comprehensive multi-organ check. Improving the rate and effectiveness of routine cancer screenings remain a challenge in health care. Multi-cancer early...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Eric di Luccio, Masayo Morishita, Takaaki Hirotsu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-09-01
Series:Biomedicines
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/10/10/2371
Description
Summary:Regular cancer screening is critical for early cancer detection. Cancer screening tends to be burdensome, invasive, and expensive, especially for a comprehensive multi-organ check. Improving the rate and effectiveness of routine cancer screenings remain a challenge in health care. Multi-cancer early detection (MCED) is an exciting concept and a potentially effective solution for addressing current issues with routine cancer screening. In recent years, several technologies have matured for MCED, such as identifying cell-free tumor DNA in blood or using organisms such as <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> as a tool for early cancer detection. In Japan, N-NOSE is a commercially available multi-cancer detection test based on the chemotaxis of <i>C. elegans</i> using a urine sample showing 87.5% sensitivity and 90.2% specificity. In this review, we focus on using <i>C. elegans</i> as a powerful biosensor for universal cancer screening. We review N-NOSE clinical research results, spotlighting it as an effective primary cancer screening test.
ISSN:2227-9059