“Cancer treatment—particularly chemotherapy—requires a balance between effectiveness and toxicity,” explains Giuseppe Barillaro. “Until now, monitoring the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs has relied on laboratory analysis, which is unable to measure absorption in a specific area with high accuracy.
Our sensor, made of a micrometric membrane of nanostructured silica modified with human serum albumin—a protein known to bind doxorubicin in the body—allows us to measure drug absorption directly at the implant site in real time, with high spatial and temporal accuracy.
The sensor enhances the drug’s fluorescence, enabling effective tracking of doxorubicin through the skin. When paired with a reusable electronic patch, it allows for data collection and wireless transmission.”
“A three-month biocompatibility study,” adds Martina Corsi, electronics researcher at the Department of Information Engineering, “confirmed the sensor’s complete biodegradation with no observed toxicity. By directly measuring chemotherapy drug levels in tissue over time, our sensor improves upon traditional monitoring methods, enabling physicians to optimize dosages during treatment and reduce the risk of recurrence following tumor removal.”
“Implantable, bioresorbable sensors,” Barillaro concludes, “have the potential to revolutionize clinical and diagnostic procedures by enabling continuous monitoring of a specific molecule within the target tissue. This offers real-time insight into both the patient’s health status and the drug’s effectiveness—an important step toward precision and personalized medicine. This goal is pursued at our Department through various research lines carried out within forelab, our laboratory dedicated to technologies for a 5.0 society.”
The sensor was developed within the framework of the European project RESORB (www.resorb-project.eu), of which it represents the final outcome. RESORB successfully achieved its main goal: to optimize doxorubicin dosage in cancer patients through local, direct, and continuous measurement of the drug concentration at the implant site.
