On Dec. 4, 2024, researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona announced they had discovered that different types of cancer have unique molecular ‘fingerprints’ which are detectable in early stages of the disease and can be picked up with near-perfect accuracy by small, portable scanners in just a few hours.

The study centres around the ribosome, the protein factories of a cell. Ribosomes are made of proteins and a special type of RNA molecule called ribosomal RNA (rRNA). rRNA molecules are the target of chemical modifications, affecting the ribosome’s function. The researchers looked for all types of chemical modifications across human and mouse rRNA from many different tissues including the brain, heart, liver, and testis. They discovered that each tissue has a unique pattern of rRNA modifications – which they call an ‘epitranscriptomic fingerprint’.

The study was possible thanks to a new technology called nanopore direct RNA sequencing, which permits the direct analysis of rRNA molecules with all its modifications. The advantage of nanopore sequencing is that it relies on small, portable sequencing devices that can fit in the palm of a hand. Researchers can insert biological samples into the machine, which captures and scans RNA molecules in real time. In the long term, the researchers want to create a diagnostic method which can detect cancer’s fingerprint in circulating RNA in the blood. The study was published in the journal Molecular Cell.