(415a) Development and Early Testing of a Prototype Device for Nanosensor-Enabled Chemical Cystoscopy

Bladder cancer is a very common and morbid malignancy. Owing to the high recurrence rate and relatively slow progression, patients require frequent surveillance and treatment, making bladder cancer the most expensive malignancy per person. Cystoscopy and biopsy are considered the gold standard for diagnosis, but, although blue-light cystoscopy and other visualization technologies may improve detection, office cystoscopy may often lead to a delay in treatment or a misdiagnosis. Our goal is to develop a novel sensing modality for biomarker detection of bladder cancer during office cystoscopy to improve accuracy.

We have developed single-walled carbon nanotubes engineered with specific polymers in which analytes binding events induce fluorescent changes for biomarker detection. This technique is called Corona-Phase Molecular Recognition (CoPhMoRe). Using CoPhMoRe, we aim to detect biomarkers related to bladder cancer. The nanosensors with promising specificity/sensitivity are coated on a medical catheter to produce a 3D chemical map. The nanosensor readout is performed through an optical fiber within the catheter. Nanosensor-enabled chemical cystoscopy (NECC) is composed of the nanosensor catheter and optical fiber passed through the channel of a cystoscope to allow for in-office biomarker assessment.

We successfully coated nanosensors targeting H₂O₂ on a catheter; the sensors show unique fluorescent peaks from 900 to 1200 nm. We validated NECC’s ability to capture biomarker release using T-24 bladder cancer cells, which were cultured on glass slides and analyzed with the NECC catheter in solution. Upon benzidine stimulation, a sharp decrease in nanosensor intensity was observed at the bottom of the catheter, which corresponds to the presence of H₂O₂ release near the cells, while there was no change in intensity without stimulation. In this study, we constructed a prototype of a nanosensor-coated catheter for eventual bladder cancer detection using an optical fiber to capture nanosensor fluorescence output. The system was able to assess proximity to T-24 bladder cancer cells due to H₂O₂ concentration gradients.