A medical test that involves cutting tissue and removing a portion may soon disappear. Scientists have proposed a way to diagnose diseases painlessly using a patch made up of millions of ultra-fine needles.
A research team from King's College London (KCL) announced on the 16th that it has developed a nanoneedle patch for tissue biopsies. The research findings were published that day in the international journal 'Nature Nanotechnology.'
Tissue biopsies are widely used methods for diagnosing diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's disease and for tracking their progression. It involves cutting a part of the tissue for microscopic observation or decoding genetic information. It is also referred to as a biopsy. However, the conventional method of cutting tissue and removing a portion with a needle not only causes pain but also leaves scars and poses a risk of infection, making patients reluctant. In particular, it has been difficult to conduct frequent examinations in sensitive areas like the brain.
The research team developed a patch with ultra-fine needles that are one-thousandth the thickness of a human hair. They stated that applying and then removing the patch allows for the collection of molecular information such as proteins, lipids, and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) without damaging the tissue.
It is possible to examine specific areas repeatedly without causing pain to the patient, and there is no worry about tissue damage or inflammation. If the patch is kept on, it also becomes feasible to analyze the disease's progression or treatment response in real time.
The research team confirmed through experiments on human brain cancer tissue samples and mice that the ultra-fine needle patch extracts various molecules from cells without damaging the tissue. They explained that it was able to precisely identify cancer cells and understand the disease's progression and treatment responses at the cellular level.
The nanoneedle patch is expected to be useful in brain surgery settings. Surgeons can apply this patch to suspicious areas during surgery and confirm cancer cells or treatment responses in just 20 minutes, allowing for quick and accurate surgical decisions. The patch can be mass-produced through semiconductor chip processing, enabling its integration into various medical devices such as medical bandages, endoscopic equipment, and contact lenses, the research team noted.
Ciro Chiappini, a KCL professor and corresponding author of the paper, said, "I have been studying nanoneedle technology for 12 years, but this is the most exciting achievement. It will not only be a groundbreaking diagnostic tool for brain cancer and Alzheimer's disease patients but also a significant aid for personalized medicine."
References
Nature Nanotechnology (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01955-8