Autonomous theranostics of miRNA from tumor using DNA computing

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16H06043
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Analytical chemistry
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
• Principal Investigator: Kawano Ryuji 東京農工大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (90401702)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: ナノポア / DNAコンピューティング / microRNA / リキッドバイオプシー / マイクロデバイス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this project, miRNAs from tumor cells are recognized by DNA computation technology and the nanopores. The purpose of this study is to detect the results of recognition by the nanopore measurement combined with DNA computation. This study was originally planned as a four-year project, but it was shifted to the basic research in the fourth year because the research progressed more than as we planned initially. The following is a summary of the main results obtained during the three years of research. The nanopore measurement using microdroplets is developed in a microdevice, and we succeeded in label-free and rapid decoding of the output molecule. We detected two different miRNAs with enhanced expression from small cell lung cancer as AND gates for rapid detection. After that, we also detected five different miRNAs from cholangiocarcinoma in body fluid from cancer patients. These results were published in several publications including Analytical Chemistry in the ACS.

Free Research Field

分析化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では二つの学術的意義と一つの社会的意義があると考えている。学術的意義の一つ目は、これまで主に情報学や数学的観点から研究が進められてきたDNA演算技術を腫瘍細胞由来のmiRNA検出に応用した点である。miRNAは複数種類のRNAが発現上昇低下するといった複雑なパターンで変動する。この変動をDNA演算技術により迅速検出を可能とした。二つ目の学術的意義は、このDNA演算で出力される核酸分子を非標識かつ電気的に検出可能としたことである。最後に社会的意義としては、実際の癌患者の血液から癌腫瘍由来miRNAの検出に成功したことである。これによりコンセプトの実証に留まらず、社会実装を目指す。