The study led by the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) and published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials describes the development of a contact lens that can identify exosomes in human fluids. Exosomes are nano-sized vesicles prevalent in the human fluid that can be used as a potential biomarker for diagnosing cancer.

The lens was designed with microchambers polymerized with antibodies that can capture exosomes found in the tears. These antibodies conjugated to microchamber contact lenses can be stained for detection with nanoparticle-tagged specific antibodies for selective visualization. Hence, the contact lens offers a potential platform for cancer pre-screening and a supportive diagnostic tool that is easy, sensitive, and non-invasive.

The TIBI team validated the contact lens by testing it against exosomes secreted into supernatants from ten different tissues and cancer cell lines. The lens’s ability to capture and detect exosomes was validated by the spectroscopic shift observed in all ten samples. Dr. Ali Khademhosseini, Ph.D., Director and CEO, TIBI, stated that exosomes are a rich source of markers and biomolecules that can be targeted for several biomedical applications. He added that the methodology developed by his team facilitated the development of a cost-effective diagnostic tool for detecting cancer. At present, the detection of cancer is a tedious and time-consuming process involving ultracentrifuges and density gradients, taking at least ten hours to complete. Further difficulties in the screening are posed in the detection of the isolated exosomes as the commonly used methods require expensive and space-consuming equipment. 

(Source: https://theprint.in/health/researchers-develop-contact-lens-that-helps-in-cancer-diagnosis-and-screening/1080637/ )