Development of a Point-of-Care Cervico-Vaginal Sampling/Testing Device for the Colorimetric Detection of Cervical Cancer

This paper reports the colorimetric analysis of cervical-cancer-affected clinical samples by the in situ formation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) formed with cervico-vaginal fluids collected from healthy and cancer-affected patients in a clinical setup, termed “C-ColAur”. We evaluated the efficacy of the colorimetric technique against the clinical analysis (biopsy/Pap smear) and reported the sensitivity and specificity. We investigated if the aggregation coefficient and size of the nanoparticles responsible for the change in color of the AuNPs (formed with clinical samples) could also be used as a measure of detecting malignancy. We estimated the protein and lipid concentrations in the clinical samples and attempted to investigate if either of these components was solely responsible for the color change, enabling their colorimetric detection. We also propose a self-sampling device, CerviSelf, that could enable the rapid frequency of screening. We discuss two of the designs in detail and demonstrate the 3D-printed prototypes. These devices, in conjugation with the colorimetric technique C-ColAur, have the potential to be self-screening techniques, enabling women to undergo rapid and frequent screening in the comfort and privacy of their homes, allowing a chance at an early diagnosis and improved survival rates.