Methods And Apparatus For Enhanced Detection Of Diseases

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and apparatus for enhanced detection of a disease by among others enhancing the difference in a microscopic property of diseased cells and normal cells, thereby enhancing the detection sensitivity and specificity.

1 . A method for detecting cancer in a biological subject, comprising the steps of:
 adding an additive to a sample of the biological subject's tissue or organ containing cancer cells and normal cells to provide a difference in a microscopic property between the cancer cells and normal cells;   contacting the additive-containing sample with a micro-device capable of differentiating normal cells from cancer cells;   separating the cancer cells and normal cells in the sample; and   measuring a biological expression level or concentration of the cancer cells;   wherein the additive comprises an oxidant, a reductant, an inhibitor, a catalyst, an enzyme, a bio-marker, a chemical-marker, a bio-chemical marker, a bio-active compound, a chemical component, a bio-chemical component, a biological component, an organic component, a metal-organic component, a bio-chemical component, an optical component, a florescence component, a protein, a virus, a coloring agent, an antibody, or a combination thereof;   wherein the oxidant comprises oxygen, ozone, hydrogen peroxide, an inorganic peroxide, nitric acid, a nitrate compound, a chromium compound, a permanganate compound, sulfuric acid, persulfuric acid, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, chlorite, chlorate, perchlorate, a halogen compound, hyperchlorite, a hypohalite compound, sodium perborate, nitrous oxide, sliver oxide, osmium tetroxide, Tollens' reagent, 2,2′-dipyridyldisulfide, urea, silver nitrate, ferric nitrate, urea nitrogen, blood urea nitrogen, potassium permanganate, or a combination thereof;   wherein the reductant comprises nascent hydrogen, a compound containing Fe 2+  ion, sodium amalgam, sodium borohydride, a sulfite compound, hydrazine, a compound containing the Sn 2+  ion, zinc-mercury amalgam, lithium aluminum hydride, Lindlar catalyst, formic acid, oxalic acid, ascorbic acid, a phosphite, a hypophosphite, phosphorous acid, or a combination thereof;   and wherein the bio-active compound comprises glucose, fructose, pyruvate, galactose, amino acid, acetic acid, glyoxylic acid, oxalic acid, propionic acid, acetic acid, or an enzyme.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising adding one or more additional additives to the sample before the measuring step. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the additive is added to the sample during the contacting step. 
     
     
         4 .- 5 . (canceled) 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the halogen compound is 4-chlorotoluene, dibromopentane, bromoethane, 2-chloropropane, fluorocyclopentane, or 2-iodo-2-methylpentane; the hypohalite compound is hypoiodous acid, hypobromite, hypochlorite, or hypofluorous acid; the reductant compound containing Fe 2+  ion is iron(II) sulfate; the enzyme comprises an oxidoreductase, transferase, hydrolase, lyase, isomerase, ligase, RNA-enzyme, DNA polymerase, RNA polymerase, hexokinase, aminoacyl tRNA synthetase, ribosome, an artificial enzyme, or a cofactor-bound thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the reductase is dehydrogenase, luciferase, or DMSO reductase; and the hexokinase is pyruvate carboxylase or PEP carboxylinase. 
     
     
         8 . (canceled) 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2 , where the two or more additives can be the same or different. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of separating the cancer cells and normal cells in the sample comprises subjecting the sample to one or more filters. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more filters differentiate the cancer cells and normal cells by their electrical, magnetic, electromagnetic, thermal, optical, acoustical, biological, chemical, electro-mechanical, electro-chemical, electro-optical, electro-thermal, electro-chemical-mechanical, bio-chemical, bio-mechanical, bio-optical, bio-thermal, bio-physical, bio-electro-mechanical, bio-electro-chemical, bio-electro-optical, bio-electro-thermal, bio-mechanical-optical, bio-mechanical thermal, bio-thermal-optical, bio-electro-chemical-optical, bio-electro-mechanical-optical, bio-electro-thermal-optical, bio-electro-chemical-mechanical, physical or mechanical property, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the microscopic property is an electrical, magnetic, electromagnetic, thermal, optical, acoustical, biological, chemical, electro-mechanical, electro-chemical, electro-optical, electro-thermal, electro-chemical-mechanical, bio-chemical, bio-mechanical, bio-optical, bio-thermal, bio-physical, bio-electro-mechanical, bio-electro-chemical, bio-electro-optical, bio-electro-thermal, bio-mechanical-optical, bio-mechanical thermal, bio-thermal-optical, bio-electro-chemical-optical, bio-electro-mechanical-optical, bio-electro-thermal-optical, bio-electro-chemical-mechanical, physical or mechanical property, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the electrical property is surface charge, surface potential, resting potential, electrical current, electrical field distribution, electrical dipole, electrical quadruple, three-dimensional electrical or charge cloud distribution, electrical properties at telomere of DNA and chromosome, capacitance, or impedance; the thermal property is temperature or vibrational frequency; the optical property is optical absorption, optical transmission, optical reflection, optical-electrical property, brightness, or fluorescent emission; the chemical property is pH value, chemical reaction, bio-chemical reaction, bio-electro-chemical reaction, reaction speed, reaction energy, speed of reaction, oxygen concentration, oxygen consumption rate, ionic strength, catalytic behavior, chemical additives to trigger enhanced signal response, bio-chemical additives to trigger enhanced signal response, biological additives to trigger enhanced signal response, chemicals to enhance detection sensitivity, bio-chemicals to enhance detection sensitivity, biological additives to enhance detection sensitivity, or bonding strength; the physical property is density, shape, volume, or surface area; the biological property is surface shape, surface area, surface charge, surface biological property, surface chemical property, pH, electrolyte, ionic strength, resistivity, cell concentration, property relating to bio-markers, or biological, electrical, physical or chemical property of solution; the acoustic property is frequency, speed of acoustic waves, acoustic frequency and intensity spectrum distribution, acoustic intensity, acoustical absorption, or acoustical resonance; the mechanical property is internal pressure, hardness, flow rate, viscosity, shear strength, elongation strength, fracture stress, adhesion, mechanical resonance frequency, elasticity, plasticity, or compressibility. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising applying an external force or energy to the sample before the measuring step, and the application of the external force or energy results in enhanced difference of a microscopic property between the cancer cells and normal cells. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , the external force or energy is a physical, chemical, biological, mechanical, thermal, optical, acoustical, electrical, magnetic, electromagnetic, electro-mechanical, electro-chemical, electro-chemical-mechanical, bio-chemical, bio-mechanical, bio-optical, bio-physical, bio-electro-mechanical, bio-electro-chemical, or bio-electro-chemical-mechanical, electro-optical, electro-chemical optical force or energy; the microscopic property is an electrical, magnetic, electromagnetic, thermal, optical, acoustical, biological, chemical, electro-mechanical, electro-chemical, electro-optical, electro-thermal, electro-chemical-mechanical, bio-chemical, bio-mechanical, bio-optical, bio-thermal, bio-physical, bio-electro-mechanical, bio-electro-chemical, bio-electro-optical, bio-electro-thermal, bio-mechanical-optical, bio-mechanical thermal, bio-thermal-optical, bio-electro-chemical-optical, bio-electro-mechanical-optical, bio-electro-thermal-optical, bio-electro-chemical-mechanical, physical or mechanical property, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the electrical property is surface charge, surface potential, resting potential, electrical current, electrical field distribution, electrical dipole, electrical quadruple, three-dimensional electrical or charge cloud distribution, electrical properties at telomere of DNA and chromosome, capacitance, or impedance; the thermal property is temperature or vibrational frequency; the optical property is optical absorption, optical transmission, optical reflection, optical-electrical property, brightness, or fluorescent emission; the chemical property is pH value, chemical reaction, bio-chemical reaction, bio-electro-chemical reaction, reaction speed, reaction energy, speed of reaction, oxygen concentration, oxygen consumption rate, ionic strength, catalytic behavior, chemical additives to trigger enhanced signal response, bio-chemical additives to trigger enhanced signal response, biological additives to trigger enhanced signal response, chemicals to enhance detection sensitivity, bio-chemicals to enhance detection sensitivity, biological additives to enhance detection sensitivity, or bonding strength; the physical property is density, shape, volume, or surface area; the biological property is surface shape, surface area, surface charge, surface biological property, surface chemical property, pH, electrolyte, ionic strength, resistivity, cell concentration, property relating to bio-markers, or biological, electrical, physical or chemical property of solution; the acoustic property is frequency, speed of acoustic waves, acoustic frequency and intensity spectrum distribution, acoustic intensity, acoustical absorption, or acoustical resonance; the mechanical property is internal pressure, hardness, flow rate, viscosity, shear strength, elongation strength, fracture stress, adhesion, mechanical resonance frequency, elasticity, plasticity, or compressibility. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method not only detects the existence of cancer in the biological subject but also differentiates between different types of cancer cells. 
     
     
         18 . (canceled) 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the cancer is bladder cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, endometrial cancer, kidney cancer, leukemia cancer, lung cancer (including bronchus), melanoma cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, or thyroid cancer. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the differentiation of different types of cancer cells is based in part on the geometry of the micro-device, probing signal, change in the probing signal, or the biological sample. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the differentiation of different types of cancer cells is based in part on cell surface properties, cell membrane properties, oxygen level, oxygen location, oxygen bonding, electric charge density, electric charge location, or dynamic properties of the electric charge of the biological sample. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the cell surface or cell membrane properties comprise surface absorption and adsorption ability of the biological sample, the oxygen level, oxygen bonding on the cell surface or membrane, ion concentration, ion gradient, membrane resting potential, cell surface charge, the permeability and transportation ability of the membrane. 
     
     
         23 . A system for detecting cancer in a sample from a biological subject, comprising
 a micro-device for injecting an additive which interacts with the biological sample,   a separation device for separating cancer cells from normal cells, and   a probing and detecting device for probing and detecting the biological sample,   wherein the biological sample contains normal cells and cancer cells, the normal cells and cancer cells differ in the level of at least one microscopic property, and the additive interacts with the biological sample to provide the difference in the at least one microscopic property,   wherein the additive comprises an oxidant, a reductant, an inhibitor, a catalyst, an enzyme, a bio-marker, a chemical-marker, a bio-chemical marker, a bio-active compound, a chemical component, a bio-chemical component, a biological component, an organic component, a metal-organic component, a bio-chemical component, an optical component, a florescence component, a protein, a virus, a coloring agent, an antibody, or a combination thereof, and   wherein the oxidant comprises oxygen, ozone, hydrogen peroxide, an Inorganic peroxide, nitric acid, a nitrate compound, a chromium compound, a permanganate compound, sulfuric acid, persulfuric acid, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, chlorite, chlorate, perchlorate, a halogen compound, hyperchlorite, a hypohalite compounds, sodium perborate, nitrous oxide, sliver oxide, osmium tetroxide, Tollens' reagent, 2,2′-dipyridyldisulfide, urea, silver nitrate, ferric nitrate, urea nitrogen, blood urea nitrogen, potassium permanganate, or a combination thereof;   wherein the reductant comprises nascent hydrogen, a compound containing Fe 2+  ion, sodium amalgam, sodium borohydride, a sulfite compound, hydrazine, a compound containing the Sn 2+  ion, zinc-mercury amalgam, lithium aluminum hydride, Lindlar catalyst, formic acid, oxalic acid, ascorbic acid, a phosphite, a hypophosphite, phosphorous acid, or a combination thereof; and   wherein the bio-active compound comprises glucose, fructose, pyruvate, galactose, amino acid, acetic acid, glyoxylic acid, oxalic acid, propionic acid, acetic acid, or an enzyme.   
     
     
         24 . (canceled)