State of the Art of Chemosensors in a Biomedical Context

Healthcare is undergoing large transformations, and it is imperative to leverage new technologies to support the advent of personalized medicine and disease prevention. It is now well accepted that the levels of certain biological molecules found in blood and other bodily fluids, as well as in exhaled breath, are an indication of the onset of many human diseases and reflect the health status of the person. Blood, urine, sweat, or saliva biomarkers can therefore serve in early diagnosis of diseases such as cancer, but also in monitoring disease progression, detecting metabolic disfunctions, and predicting response to a given therapy. For most point-of-care sensors, the requirement that patients themselves can use and apply them is crucial not only regarding the diagnostic part, but also at the sample collection level. This has stimulated the development of such diagnostic approaches for the non-invasive analysis of disease-relevant analytes. Considering these timely efforts, this review article focuses on novel, sensitive, and selective sensing systems for the detection of different endogenous target biomarkers in bodily fluids as well as in exhaled breath, which are associated with human diseases.

Automated summary

Healthcare is undergoing major transformations, necessitating the use of new technologies to support personalized medicine and disease prevention. Biomarkers in bodily fluids such as blood, urine, sweat, or saliva can be used for early diagnosis, disease monitoring, and predicting response to treatment. The development of non-invasive analysis methods has been driven by the need for patients to use and apply diagnostic approaches themselves. This review focuses on novel sensing systems for detecting various endogenous biomarkers associated with human diseases in bodily fluids and exhaled breath.