On May 31, 2022, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “Urinary MicroRNA-based Early Cancer Detection Using Nanowire-based Devices” by Dr. Yasui Takao on using nanowire devices to extract microRNAs (miRNA) from urine to distinguish cancer patients from healthy individuals and improve the early detection of cancer. According to Yasui, researchers designed a device equipped with 100 million zinc oxide nanowires that can extract a significantly greater variety and quantity of miRNAs from only a milliliter of urine compared to conventional methods. Using the device, they revealed that miRNAs in urine could be a promising biomarker to diagnose brain tumors, finding that many miRNAs derived from brain tumors exist in urine in a stable condition. Yasui states that the results showed that the model can distinguish the patients from non-cancer individuals at a sensitivity of 100 percent and a specificity of 97 percent, regardless of the malignancy and size of tumors.

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