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researchers have designed a device that uses a simple blood test to detect early-stage lung cancer.

Dr Richard Lobb and Quan Zhou from UQ鈥檚 Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology said the diagnostic device could help patients begin treatment and get ahead of the disease before it spreads.

鈥淭he technology we鈥檝e developed is non-invasive and can detect very small lung cancer nodules to hopefully catch the disease in the first stage.鈥�

The nanodevice analyses the patient鈥檚 blood sample, looking for a particular biomarker 鈥� the sugars that coat the tiny messenger particles known as extracellular vesicles (EVs).

鈥淭hese sugar molecules, or glycans, serve as excellent biomarkers because the sugar code on a cancer cell is different to a normal cell,鈥� Lobb said.

鈥淎 drop of blood can be all that鈥檚 needed to alert clinicians to the presence of small lung cancer nodules and allow intervention while the disease is in its early stages,鈥� Lobb said.

A clinical study involving 40 patients found the technology successfully differentiated patients with early-stage malignant lung nodules from those with benign lung nodules.

鈥淭he results show the potential to use EV glycans to diagnose other diseases non-invasively,鈥� Zhou said.

鈥淭his device, and a simple blood test, could help clinicians step in before more intensive scanning or treatments or drug regimes are needed.鈥�

The nanodevice was designed in the lab of ARC Laureate and AIBN senior group leader Professor Matt Trau, with AIBN scholars Xueming Niu, Dr Alain Wuethrich and Dr Zhen Zhang contributing to the research.

The research paper was published in Advanced Science.

Image caption: Quan Zhou holds up the device his laboratory is using to explore faster, more accurate methods of diagnosis. Image: The University of Queensland.