PSA purification and concentration from urine samples for non-invasive early stage diagnostics of prostate cancer

TECHNOLOGY SUMMARY
New method for the pretreatment of human urine samples, comprising the simultaneous extraction, concentration and purification of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a prostate cancer biomarker.
In this technology, aqueous biphasic systems composed of ionic liquids and salts are used. These systems allow the selective extraction of PSA and to obtain high concentration/enrichment factors, enabling the quantification of PSA using less sophisticated, cheaper and more affordable equipment.

CONTEXT
The PSA (tumor biomarker) quantification in serum is currently used for the early stage diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa). However, most of the available techniques for PSA quantification require extensive sample processing and expensive analysis (e.g. ELISA) that are mostly unavailable in low-income countries in which the mortality associated to PCa is higher. Furthermore, blood is an invasive matrix that requires certified personnel for collection. PSA is also present and can be detected in urine, a less invasive matrix. However, the current methods for its quantification in urine are highly expensive and cumbersome.
The developed cost-effective technology allows the simultaneous specific extraction, concentration and purification of PSA from urine samples using aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) composed of ionic liquids and salts. This technology allows a lossless and contaminant-free extraction and high concentrated factors in a single-step.