Development of a Magneto-Electrochemical Point of Care Platform for Early Detection and Monitoring of Breast Cancer using Laser-Induced Graphene Electrodes

Breast cancer is a leading cause of death among women globally and is thereby a major threat to women’s health. Most cases occur in women with no specific risk factors other than age and gender, so early detection and treatment of breast cancer is vital for reducing mortality rates. Conventional methods for breast cancer diagnosis based on imaging are costly and time-consuming, while biomarker-based methods require expensive laboratory equipment and trained personnel to be carried out. Therefore, there is a need for a low-cost, easy-to-use, and reliable test that can detect breast cancer early on to reduce the mortality rate. Magneto-electrochemical sensing (MES) platforms are viable options for the point-of-care detection of breast cancer protein biomarkers, thereby facilitating disease diagnosis. MES platforms combine magnetic bead manipulation for immunoassay steps with electrochemical sensing to provide an easy-to-use platform that exhibits superior detection capabilities compared to traditional point-of-care methods.

In this work, we are developing an electrochemical biosensor for early diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer through detection of the Cancer Antigen 15-3 biomarker. The biosensor combines a magnetic bead-based immunoassay with an emerging electrode material, laser-induced graphene (LIG), which has been shown to exhibit enhanced electrochemical performance compared to traditional electrode materials due to its unique physical and chemical properties. LIG electrodes can be easily patterned onto a commercial polyimide film using a CO2 laser, thereby eliminating the need for harsh reagents during fabrication and enabling mass production of the electrode material. The immunoassay and LIG will be integrated into a microfluidic platform for fast, practical, and reliable breast cancer monitoring. Future work will focus on developing a multiplex platform to detect biomarkers for both cancer diagnosis and prognosis across multiple cancer types.