Biotechnological techniques used in cancer diagnosis and treatment

In spite of the immense improvement in cancer diagnosis and therapy, but still cancer is the second most significant cause of demise in the globe. Advancement in medical biotechnology has raised the researcher’s information on molecular events of cancer disease and has created a new faith in the early cancer prognosis and treatment. Changes in the cell’s genome and proteome interrupt the cellular control mechanisms. These molecular faults can be resolute by the help of using appropriate biotechnology techniques (Pahlevani. E., 2017).

Are biotechnology techniques helpful for the scientist to fight against cancer disease?

Biotechnology has assist researchers to know cancer disease in multiple ways such as genome analysis, cell culture, culturing transgenic cell lines, gene profiling and especially identify novel biomarkers for risk detection and development of cancer.

·       Existing biotechnology techniques help researchers to understand the major cause of cancer disease.

·       Biotechnological techniques provide information about those factors that are involved in increasing the rate of cancer growth and those factors that are involved in reducing the rate of cancer growth (Ghorbani. M and Karimi. H., 2015).

TECHNIQUES OF BIOTECHNOLOGY:

Here some useful biotechnology techniques for cancer therapy or diagnosis and the benefits of each technique are also discussed. These techniques include:

1.     Gene expression profiling

2.     DNA sequencing

3.     In situ hybridization (ISH)

4.     Real time PCR

5.     Microarray analysis

6.     Gene mapping

7.     Genome analysis


1.    Gene Expression Profiling:

The gene expression profiling is a biotechnology technique that is used by scientist or researchers to find out the genes expression level. The test of gene expression profiling has enabled scientists to analyze a large number of gene expression among thousands of genes simultaneously. This technique used for tumours classification and specific allele’s identification that grow the chances of cancer development because of transfer genetic disorder by inheritance in offspring. The gene expression profiling results help doctors to make the decision who may benefit to give additional treatment after doing surgery (Bao, T., & Davidson, N. E., 2008).

2.    DNA Sequencing:

DNA sequencing technique involves the determination process of the correct order of nucleotide bases (cytosine, thymine, adenine, and guanine) within the DNA strand. In the cancer research program, the DNA sequencing method is used for oncogenic DNA sequences detection. The DNA sequencing of cancerous genes is done because of the new biomarkers invention. Single nucleotide change, DNA sequences variant, small insertions and deletions are identified by DNA sequencing method (Ghorbani. M & Karimi. H., 2015).

3.    In Situ Hybridization (ISH):

Another biotechnology technique is In situ hybridization (ISH) that is widely used for the detection of specific DNA and RNA nucleotides sequences in the tissue section is complete by hybridization of labelled complementary DNA, RNA, or probe strand to the target strand. This method is very useful for researchers or scientists to study gene expression and cause the development of specified cancers (Jehan, Z et al., 2012).

4.    Real-time PCR:

This technique has a wide application in the study of cancer disease. Real-time PCR is an advance method of PCR used for amplification and concurrently quantification or detection of targeted DNA sequences. This technique is one of the main focuses of research on cancer-related programs. The pathogenesis of tumour and cancer biology is determined by real-time PCR, it gives responsive and accurate prediction which is helpful for the scientist to understand the stage of cancer, disease mechanism, and cancer therapies development (Raza. A and Khattak. A. N. 2012).

5.    Microarray analysis:

The most appropriate method of genome study is the microarray that is used for the comparison of thousands of genes level of expression at the same time. This technique is quite helpful for scientists to recognize which gene is turned off or on in the absence or presence of cancer. This technique helps in identifying the known genes that play a role in cancer disease development than which in turn leads to the preparation of new cancer treatment for target cancers cells (Ghorbani. M & Karimi. H., 2015).

6.    Gene mapping:

Gene mapping is a biotechnology technique that is used to determining the position of genes, space or gaps between genes on a chromosome. In cancer research, the main purpose of gene mapping is genetic markers positioning that are associated with cancers on their particular locus on the genome. By the using gene mapping technique, molecular markers identify that are related to specific cancer so personalized cancer therapy can be prepared for individual patients. It is also helpful for the detection of cancer in early-stage (Ghorbani. M. & Karimi. H., 2015).

7.    Genome analysis:

It includes comparison, measurement and, determination genomic elements for example gene expression, DNA sequences, functional and regulatory elements at the genomic level. Genome analysis of cancer may basis on the patient or on the type of cancer. Two approaches are applied, initially examining a group of patients that are suffering in a specific cancer type and is used to biomarkers finding, subtypes of cancer are characterize with therapeutic or clinical implications. The second approach includes genome analysis of a specific cancer patient looking for particular alterations that may be susceptible to tailored therapy (Vazquez, M. et al., 2012).


By: Sadia Israr


REFERENCES:

  1. Pahlevani. E., (2017). Role of biotechnology in cancer diagnosis and control. J Biotechnol Biomater. https://www.omicsonline.org/conference-proceedings/biotechnology-2017-posters-accepted-abstracts.digital/files/assets/basic-html/page-13.html
  2. Ghorbani. M and Karimi. H., (2015). Role of Biotechnology in Cancer Control. International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technologyhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/288331626_Role_of_Biotechnology_in_Cancer_Control
  3. Bao, T., & Davidson, N. E. (2008). Gene Expression Profiling of Breast Cancer. Advances in Surgery, 42, 249–260. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2775529/
  4. Jehan, Z., Uddin, S., & S. Al-Kuraya, K. (2012). In-Situ Hybridization as a Molecular Tool in Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment. Current Medicinal Chemistry, 19(22), 3730–3738. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22680920/
  5. Raza. A and Khattak. A. N. (2012). Real-Time PCR; Applications in Diagnostics and Research.  Professional Med J, 19(6): 751-759 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236850195_RealTime_PCR_Applications_in_Diagnostics_and_Research
  6. Vazquez, M., de la Torre, V., & Valencia, A. (2012). Chapter 14: Cancer Genome Analysis. PLoS Computational Biology, 8(12), e1002824https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3531315/

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