Cervical cancer affects over half a million people worldwide each year, the majority of whom are in resource-limited settings
where cytology screening is not available. As persistent human papilloma virus (HPV) infections are a key causative factor,
detection of HPV strains now complements cytology where screening services exist. This work demonstrates the efficacy of
a handheld Lab-on-Chip (LoC) device, with an external sample extraction process, in detecting cervical cancer from biopsy
samples. The device is based on Ion-Sensitive Field-Effect Transistor (ISFET) sensors used in combination with loop-mediated
isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays, to amplify HPV DNA and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA.
These markers were selected because of their high levels of expression in cervical cancer cells, but low to nil expression in
normal cervical tissue. The achieved analytical sensitivity for the molecular targets resolved down to a single copy per reaction
for the mRNA markers, achieving a limit of detection of 102
for hTERT. In the tissue samples, HPV-16 DNA was present in 4/5
malignant and 2/5 benign tissues, with HPV-18 DNA being present in 1/5 malignant and 1/5 benign tissues. hTERT mRNA was
detected in all malignant and no benign tissues, with the demonstrated pilot data to indicate the potential for using the LoC in
cervical cancer screening in resource-limited settings on a large scale.