Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Related Thermal Analysis Techniques as Complementary Approaches for Cancer Diagnosis, Prognosis, Monitoring and Assessment of Treatment Response

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Causes, Screening and Diagnosis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 9176

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Guest Editor
UofL Health—Brown Cancer Center and Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA
Interests: biochemistry; biophysical chemistry; biomolecule structure, stability and interactions; disease proteomics; development of biophysical technologies for medical diagnostics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) is an established biophysical technique that measures the heat capacity associated with temperature-induced structural transitions in a sample. DSC has a wide range of applications, from monitoring changes in the physical state of polymers to determining the thermodynamics of the conformational transitions of biomolecules. In the last ~15 years, there has been a growing body of work exploring the biomedical application of DSC to characterize biological samples and to determine its utility as an emerging approach for clinical diagnostics. Studies have demonstrated the sensitivity of DSC to disease type, severity, and treatment response through the analysis of different types of biospecimens (e.g., blood plasma, blood serum, cerebrospinal fluid, and solid tumor samples) in multiple disease settings (e.g., cervical cancer, melanoma, lung cancer, breast cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, multiple myeloma, brain cancer, systemic lupus erythematosus, psoriasis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes). Other research has also investigated the diagnostic application of related thermal analysis techniques, such as differential scanning fluorimetry.  With a clear demonstration of the utility of thermal analysis techniques, recent studies have focused on a more rigorous examination of the diagnostic performance of these methods as complementary approaches for patient diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring, and assessment of treatment response as well as on exploring the biological underpinnings of thermal stability changes in the disease state. This Special Issue aims to provide a collection of research articles, review articles, or short communications highlighting the biomedical application of DSC and related thermal analysis techniques in the cancer setting.

Dr. Nichola C. Garbett
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • differential scanning calorimetry
  • differential scanning fluorimetry
  • thermal analysis
  • clinical diagnostics
  • biospecimen
  • diagnosis
  • prognosis
  • monitoring
  • treatment
  • diagnostic performance

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 1640 KiB  
Article
Bowel Preparation for Colonoscopy Changes Serum Composition as Detected by Thermal Liquid Biopsy and Fluorescence Spectroscopy
by Sonia Hermoso-Durán, María José Domper-Arnal, Pilar Roncales, Sonia Vega, Oscar Sanchez-Gracia, Jorge L. Ojeda, Ángel Lanas, Adrian Velazquez-Campoy and Olga Abian
Cancers 2023, 15(7), 1952; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15071952 - 24 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1614
Abstract
(1) Background: About 50% of prescribed colonoscopies report no pathological findings. A secondary screening test after fecal immunochemical test positivity (FIT+) would be required. Considering thermal liquid biopsy (TLB) as a potential secondary test, the aim of this work was to study possible [...] Read more.
(1) Background: About 50% of prescribed colonoscopies report no pathological findings. A secondary screening test after fecal immunochemical test positivity (FIT+) would be required. Considering thermal liquid biopsy (TLB) as a potential secondary test, the aim of this work was to study possible interferences of colonoscopy bowel preparation on TLB outcome on a retrospective study; (2) Methods: Three groups were studied: 1/514 FIT(+) patients enrolled in a colorectal screening program (CN and CP with normal and pathological colonoscopy, respectively), with blood samples obtained just before colonoscopy and after bowel preparation; 2/55 patients from the CN group with blood sample redrawn after only standard 8–10 h fasting and no bowel preparation (CNR); and 3/55 blood donors from the biobank considered as a healthy control group; (3) Results: The results showed that from the 514 patients undergoing colonoscopy, 247 had CN and 267 had CP. TLB parameters in these two groups were similar but different from those of the blood donors. The resampled patients (with normal colonoscopy and no bowel preparation) had similar TLB parameters to those of the blood donors. TLB parameters together with fluorescence spectra and other serum indicators (albumin and C-reactive protein) confirmed the statistically significant differences between normal colonoscopy patients with and without bowel preparation; (4) Conclusions: Bowel preparation seemed to alter serum protein levels and altered TLB parameters (different from a healthy subject). The diagnostic capability of other liquid-biopsy-based methods might also be compromised. Blood extraction after bowel preparation for colonoscopy should be avoided. Full article
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9 pages, 930 KiB  
Article
Plasma nanoDSF Denaturation Profile at Baseline Is Predictive of Glioblastoma EGFR Status
by Rémi Eyraud, Stéphane Ayache, Philipp O. Tsvetkov, Shanmugha Sri Kalidindi, Viktoriia E. Baksheeva, Sébastien Boissonneau, Carine Jiguet-Jiglaire, Romain Appay, Isabelle Nanni-Metellus, Olivier Chinot, François Devred and Emeline Tabouret
Cancers 2023, 15(3), 760; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15030760 - 26 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2694
Abstract
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most frequent and aggressive primary brain tumor in adults. Recently, we demonstrated that plasma denaturation profiles of glioblastoma patients obtained using Differential Scanning Fluorimetry can be automatically distinguished from healthy controls with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Here, [...] Read more.
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most frequent and aggressive primary brain tumor in adults. Recently, we demonstrated that plasma denaturation profiles of glioblastoma patients obtained using Differential Scanning Fluorimetry can be automatically distinguished from healthy controls with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Here, we used a set of machine-learning algorithms to automatically classify plasma denaturation profiles of glioblastoma patients according to their EGFR status. We found that Adaboost AI is able to discriminate EGFR alterations in GBM with an 81.5% accuracy. Our study shows that the use of these plasma denaturation profiles could answer the unmet neuro-oncology need for diagnostic predictive biomarker in combination with brain MRI and clinical data, in order to allow for a rapid orientation of patients for a definitive pathological diagnosis and then treatment. We complete this study by showing that discriminating another mutation, MGMT, seems harder, and that post-surgery monitoring using our approach is not conclusive in the 48 h that follow the surgery. Full article
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Review

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17 pages, 1572 KiB  
Review
Thermodynamic Sensitivity of Blood Plasma Components in Patients Afflicted with Skin, Breast and Pancreatic Forms of Cancer
by Andrea Ferencz, Dávid Szatmári and Dénes Lőrinczy
Cancers 2022, 14(24), 6147; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14246147 - 13 Dec 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1704
Abstract
According to the World Health Organization’s 2018 Global Cancer Survey, cancer is the second leading cause of death. From this survey, the third most common is breast cancer, the fifth is melanoma malignum and pancreatic adenocarcinoma ranks twentieth. Undoubtedly, the early diagnosis and [...] Read more.
According to the World Health Organization’s 2018 Global Cancer Survey, cancer is the second leading cause of death. From this survey, the third most common is breast cancer, the fifth is melanoma malignum and pancreatic adenocarcinoma ranks twentieth. Undoubtedly, the early diagnosis and monitoring of these tumors and related research is important for aspects of patient care. The aim of our present review was to explain an impressive methodology that is deemed suitable in reference to studying blood sample deviations in the case of solid tumors. Essentially, we compared the heat denaturation responses of blood plasma components through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). In the control, between five and seven separable components can be detected, in which the primary component was albumin, while in the case of tumorous patients, the peaks of immunoglobulins were dominant. Moreover, the shape of the plasma DSC curves changed with a shift in the higher temperature ranges; thus, their pattern can be used as a suitable marker of direct immunological responses. The further development of the analysis of DSC curves raises the possibility of the early diagnosis of a potential tumor, the monitoring of diseases, or testing the efficacy of the therapy from a single drop of blood. Full article
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15 pages, 2461 KiB  
Review
Calorimetric Markers for Detection and Monitoring of Multiple Myeloma
by Sashka Krumova, Svetla Todinova and Stefka G. Taneva
Cancers 2022, 14(16), 3884; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14163884 - 11 Aug 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1773
Abstract
This review summarizes data obtained thus far on the application of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for the analysis of blood sera from patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM) with the secretion of the most common isotypes of monoclonal proteins (M-proteins), free light chains [...] Read more.
This review summarizes data obtained thus far on the application of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for the analysis of blood sera from patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM) with the secretion of the most common isotypes of monoclonal proteins (M-proteins), free light chains (FLC) and non-secretory MM, as well as Waldenström macroglobulinemia and the premalignant state monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. The heterogeneous nature of MM is reflected in the thermal stability profiles of the blood serum proteome of MM patients found to depend on both the level and the isotype of the secreted M-proteins or FLC. Common calorimetric markers feature the vast majority of the different myeloma types, i.e., stabilization of the major serum proteins and decrease in the albumin/globulin heat capacity ratio. A unique calorimetric fingerprint of FLC molecules forming amorphous aggregates is the low-temperature transition centered at 57 °C for a calorimetric set of FLC MM and at 46–47 °C for a single FLC MM case for which larger aggregates were formed. The calorimetric assay proved particularly advantageous for non-secretory MM and is thus a suitable tool for monitoring such patients during treatment courses. Thus, DSC provides a promising blood-based approach as a complementary tool for MM detection and monitoring. Full article
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