Recent advances on the DNA-based electrochemical biosensing of cancer biomarkers: Analytical approach

Oncobiomarkers act as perfect indicators for cancer detection. The latest advances in the field of early stage diagnosis of cancer reveal that sensitive and selective measurement of these biomolecules are possible through DNA biosensors. These gene-based sensing devices are being established based on nucleic acid identification methods which makes them very fast, easy to use and cost effective. Nucleic acid bioreceptors have many advantages compared to enzyme or antibodies. They can be synthesized effortlessly and restored for several uses. Additionally, it is predictable that genosensors will be very popular in the near future and take the place of currently used diagnostic methods. One of the most important parameters in the design of a sensitive and accurate genosensor is the detection technique, which is carefully chosen due to the desired application. Up to now, electrochemical-based genosensors are the most successful ones amongst numerous proposed devices. They are very efficient for sequence-specific genosensing of biomarkers. With integration of nanotechnology in the design of these devices, their sensitivity and selectivity boost considerably. A wide range of nanostructures are exploited as perfect signal amplifiers in the building of genosensors. Our objective in this review is gathering updated data about recently designed electrochemical-based genosensors for detection of different cancer biomarkers and their clinical use in analysis, monitoring, and therapeutic for cancer patients. In this review article, the basic features of recently proposed genosensors for early detection of different types of cancers including, colorectal, cervical, breast, prostate, lung, leukemia, pancreatic, oral, liver and esophageal cancer have been discussed thoroughly. It is inferred from the collected data that a wide range of nanostructures have been exploited in the design of the most recently projected genosensors, which offer great advantages in comparison to conventional assessing techniques. Additionally, different electrochemical measuring methods have been compared with regard to their efficiency. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.