Chemically Modified Viruses for Prostate Cancer Detection

The sensitive detection of cancer biomarkers in urine could revolutionize cancer diagnostics and treatment. Such detectors must be inexpensive easy to interpret and sensitive. M13 bacteriophage provides one such highly inexpensive and easily functionalizable platform for the development of such detectors. My work focuses on genetically and chemically modifying M13 viruses towards biological recognition of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) a prostate cancer biomarker. Elevated PSMA levels have been observed in prostate cancer patients’ urine and also found on the surface of prostate cancer cells. For early diagnosis of prostate cancer I have developed the chemistry necessary for the detection of clinically relevant concentrations of PSMA (<0.25 nM) in synthetic urine for direct application to patients’ samples. High sensitivity to PSMA results from the synergistic binding by two different ligands to PSMA on the same phage particle.