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Table 1 Summary of nanotechnology based methods for oral cancer detection and diagnosis

From: Nanotechnology: a promising method for oral cancer detection and diagnosis

Detection method

Nanomaterial type

Surface functionalization

Cell line/sample/model

Characteristic

References

Magnetic resonance imaging

Magnetic PLGA nanoparticles

Surface modified with folate-chitosan conjugate ‘shell’

Prostatic cancer PC3 cells, oral cancer KB cells and normal L929 cells

Shorten the overall T2 relaxation time thereby enhancing the nanoparticle relaxivity to provide better in vitro MR imaging

[59]

Gd3+ doped amorphous TiO2 nanoparticles

Conjugated with folic acid

HUVEC, PBMC, oral cancer KB cells and normal L929 cells

Enhance image contrast and agent biocompatibility for molecular receptor targeted MRI

[60]

Photoacoustic imaging

Plasmonic nanosensors

Directional conjugated with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies and PEG

A metastatic murine model of OSCC

Offer a rapid and effective tool to noninvasively identify micrometastases

[77]

Optical coherence tomography

Spherical Au nanoparticles

Conjugated with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies and PEG

A standard hamster cheek pouch model

Enhance the contrast and penetration depth in vivo OCT images

[65]

Surface plasmon resonance scattering

Colloidal gold nanoparticles

Unconjugated or conjugated with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies

Nonmalignant epithelial cell line HaCaT, and two malignant oral epithelial cell lines HOC313 clone 8 and HSC3

Find specific molecular biosensor techniques for the diagnosis of oral epithelial living cancer cells in vivo and in vitro

[81]

Surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy

Colloidal gold nanoparticles, self-assembled SERS-active gold nanoparticle monolayer film

Colloidal gold nanoparticles was conjugated with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies

Saliva samples from 5 oral cancer patients and 5 healthy individuals

Develop a simple and cost-effective method for preparing highly sensitive SERS-based saliva assay

[63]

Small spherical gold nanoparticles

Modified with a specific spacer DNA sequence in the core

Oral cancer HSC-3 cells

Improve the current temporal resolution and image quality of Raman-based cell images

[89]

Plasmonic GNRs

Absorbed on a piece of filter paper

OSCC cell line CAL27, exfoliated cells from 10 healthy individuals and 10 oral cancer patients

Enable highly sensitive, specific, rapid, and noninvasive cancer screening

[94]

Near-infrared absorption imaging

GNRs

Conjugated with Rose Bengal

Human OSCC cell line CAL27 and Tca8113

Demonstrate multi-channel, rapid and quantitative detection of oral cancer cells based on near-infrared absorption

[93]

Diffusion reflection imaging

GNRs

Conjugated with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies

A tissue sample of OSCC

Map tumor margins in OSCC with high resolution and depth of penetration

[102]

GNRs

Conjugated with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies

A rat model of OSCC

Introduce a new and simple tool for detecting residual disease intraoperatively

[103]

GNRs

Conjugated with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies

Tissue samples from 15 various dysplastic lesions, 10 OSCC lesions, and 5 healthy controls

Discriminate benign from malignant oral lesions with an objective GNRs reflection measurement

[104]

Quantum dots imaging

Water-soluble quantum dots

Conjugated with biotin and PEG

Human tongue cancer cells Tca8113

Develop of a kind of water-soluble quantum dot for immunofluorescent labeling of cancer cells

[111]

Goat anti-rabbit QD655nm-IgG

QD-IgG compound that binds to survivin and HSP70 by antigen–antibody reaction

Human tongue cancer cells Tca8113

Evaluate the application of quantum dotsand the FITC labeling technique in Tca8113 cells, and to compare the fluorescence intensity and photostability of these techniques

[112]

Goat anti-mouse QD525nm-IgG and goat anti-mouse QD655nm-IgG)

QD-IgG compound that binds to HSP70 and HSF-1 by antigen–antibody reaction

Human tongue cancer cells SCC-25

Develop a quantum dot-based approach for heat shock protein 70 and heat shock factor 1 kinetics following heat shock

[113]

Near-infrared quantum dots

Conjugated with membrane-penetrating polypeptides

Human oral squamous carcinoma BcaCD885 cells

Explore the competence of near-infrared luminescent quantum dots for visual in vivo imaging on oral squamous carcinoma BcaCD885 cells

[114]

Near-infrared quantum dots

Conjugated with arginine–glycine–aspartic acid

Nude mice bearing head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Use intravenously injected near-infrared quantum dots conjugated with arginine-glycine-aspartic acid to generate high quality images of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

[118]

Near-infrared quantum dots

Conjugated with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies

OSCC nude mice model

Investigate in vivo visible imaging of OSCC by targeting EGFR with near-infrared quantum dots

[119]

Near-infrared quantum dots

Conjugated with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies

Orthotopic tongue cancer-bearing nude mice

Construct multifunctional Ag2Se–cetuximab quantum dots for targeted imaging and therapy of orthotopic tongue cancer

[117]

Saliva peptide finger print analysis

Nano magnetic beads

Have a magnetic core enabling weak cation exchange

Whole saliva samples from 40 OSCC patients and 23 healthy controls

Predict potential biomarkers for OSCC diagnosis

[125]

Single biomarker detection

Gold nanoarray

Binded to the Fc region of the TNF-α capture antibody

Samples (type unknown) from an OSCC patient

Enable ultrasensitive detection of TNF-α

[35]

Nano-bio-chip

Labeled with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies

Brush biopsy from 41 OPMD or OSCC patients and 11 healthy volunteers

Provide rapid detection and quantitation of EGFR biomarker

[126]

Gold nano beads

Coated with antiCD63 IgG secondary antibody

Saliva samples from healthy volunteers

Explore quantitative approaches to biochemical characterization of exosomes

[127]

Multiplexed biomarker detection

Nanostructured microfluidic array

Combined gold nanoparticle surfaces with magnetic beads massively labeled with horseradish peroxidase enzyme labels

78 serum samples from oral cancer patients and 49 cancer-free controls

Provide a rapid four-protein panel serum test

[129]

Nano-UPLC

Label-free

Squamous cancer lines HN12, HN13, OSCC-3, CAL27 and normal epidermal keratinocyte noncancer line HaCaT

Develop a lable-free approach to identify and quantify proteins in complex samples

[130]

  1. PLGA poly lactide-co-glycolide, OSCC oral squamous cell carcinoma, TNF-α tumor necrosis factor-alpha, EGFR epidermal growth factor receptor, PEG polyethylene glycol, UPLC ultra-performance liquid chromatography, GNRs gold nanorods, HUVEC human primary endothelial cells, PBMC peripheral blood mononuclear cells, OCT optical coherence tomography