Recent advances in optical and photoelectrochemical nanobiosensor technology for cancer biomarker detection

Abstract

Cancer remains the most lethal disease in today's scientific and technological age, claiming the lives of thousands of people every day. In many cases, cancer can be cured with our present technology interventions when it is detected at an early stage. State-of-the-art diagnostic devices are one of the viable strategies to combat cancer. Among various methods, optical and photoelectrochemical biosensors are the most popular for detecting cancer. This review article has focused on different optical analysis techniques and photoelectrochemical techniques for the early diagnosis of cancer via the detection of several cancer biomarkers. Optical analysis techniques involve the use of light properties such as resonance, interference, luminescence, scattering, etc. To detect analytes with high sensitivity and specificity making the techniques desirable over the traditional techniques. The photoelectrochemical technique which uses light-activating photoresponsive materials has also gained popularity lately due to its low cost, high sensitivity, and specificity. These techniques can be used to identify specific biomarkers that are associated with cancer, enabling early detection and diagnosis. Furthermore, the role of nanomaterials in designing the biosensor was taken into consideration for this study. Nanomaterials-based biosensors can detect very low concentrations of biomarkers, which is crucial for early cancer diagnosis. Additionally, the performance limitations of optical and photoelectrochemical nanobiosensors have been analyzed. Given the huge number of articles published in recent years, studies published only in the last five years have been reviewed.

Keywords

• Cancer
• Cancer detection
• Nanobiosensor
• Limit of detection
• Optical biosensors
• Photoelectrochemical biosensors