Team:NU Kazakhstan/Modeling

From 2013.igem.org

NU_Kazakhstan

This is an overview of our project

Cancer development is a complex process requiring the coordinated interactions of numerous proteins, signal pathways and cell types. Its detection infers that certain characteristics of the tumor are different from corresponding normal tissue and can be seen and measured as biomarkers of tumorigenesis. Detection of disease is not the same as its diagnosis. Identification of disease does not require recognition of symptoms but also detection of specific features that would indicate the presence of certain disease. Diagnosis based on symptoms is not acceptable for cancer because symptoms usually appear when tumor is large enough to be able to detect. Therefore, finding appropriate cancer biomarkers in minimum amount of biological fluids such as serum, urine and exhaled breath and detecting them in patients would improve diagnosis and prove the presence of cancerous cells. Biomarker is a characteristic that is objectively measured and evaluated as an indicator of normal or pathogenic processes. Appropriate biomarkers may be able to define risks and identify early stages of tumor development, assist in tumor detection and diagnosis, verify stratification of patients for treatment, predict outcomes of the disease and help surveillance for disease recurrence. Improved and timely diagnosis of cancer will positively affect treatment outcomes and increase cancer survival rates. Detecting cancer as early as possible will help to reduce the cancer burden (Etzioni et al., 2003).

Screening tools are needed that exhibit the combined features of high sensitivity and high specificity for early stages of cancers...

Biosensors and immunoassays as more recent methods for the rapid detection of single-tumor markers...

Aptamers are short single stranded DNAs (ssDNAs) or RNAs that have an ability to bind to...

List of References