Author Identifier (ORCID)
Robert A. Gardiner: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5371-5910
Abstract
Clinical liquid biopsy (e.g., blood or urine) specimens, as a minimally invasive source of crucial molecular information, continue to grow in importance for efficacious targeted cancer treatment. Yet, current molecular profiling technologies are still confined to centralized laboratory testing, which escalates testing costs, result turnaround time, and patient anxiety. Crucially, there is also a scarcity of purposeful clinical validation studies to rigorously evaluate emerging liquid biopsy technologies from research settings to facilitate clinical translation. Here, we report liquid biopsy biosensor advancements in achieving rapid, accurate, and decentralized molecular profiling of a clinically accredited prostate cancer (PCa) urinary circulating RNA biomarker panel. This biosensor approach, termed ‘Accelerated non-inVasive bioAnalyte testing And Reporting’ (AVATAR), integrates accelerated isothermal assay chemistry and wireless mobile operation capabilities onto a portable electrochemical readout platform. AVATAR enables easy operational control and result display with a custom mobile app following liquid biopsy specimen collection. Using independent training (n = 124) and validation (n = 114) PCa clinical urinary specimen cohorts, we showed AVATAR achieved superior PCa risk stratification to current clinical PCa testing with area-under-curve values of 0.88 (95% confidence interval: 0.84−0.92) and 0.86 (95% confidence interval: 0.83−0.89), respectively within 55 min of assay time. To further accelerate AVATAR for using PCa liquid biopsies as a surrogate for invasive tissue sampling, we designed a tailored multi-year PCa follow-up study with individual patient liquid biopsy specimens showing strong molecular biomarker correlation with comprehensive transcriptomic sequencing of matched tissue specimens (n = 39). By creating this bespoke biosensor technology clinical translation framework, we demonstrated AVATAR for decentralized PCa liquid biopsy molecular profiling to augment clinical precision cancer management planning.
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2026
Publication Title
Advanced Science
Publisher
Wiley
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences
Funders
YFG-Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital Foundation Prostate Cancer Research Grant / The University of Queensland Graduate School International Travel Award / National Health and Medical Research Council / Priority Impact Research Award–Future Leader (PIRA FLECR-1123) funded by Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia / Clinician Research Fellowship from the Metro North Office of Research, Queensland Health / The University of Queensland / Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation / US National Institutes of Health / US Department of Defense / Prostate Cancer Foundation / A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute / Australian Research Council
Grant Number
NHMRC Number : 2026349, ARC Number : FL220100059
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Koo, K. M., Phillips, G., Srihari, S., Farrell, Á., Jaradi, B., Fitzpatrick, K. J., Yaxley, J. W., Samaratunga, H., Mainwaring, P. N., Ru, K., Korbie, D. J., Tomlins, S. A., Roberts, M. J., Gardiner, R. A., & Trau, M. (2026). Rapid decentralized prostate cancer risk stratification by portable liquid biopsy analysis within a clinical biosensor validation framework. Advanced Science. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202512126