Paper-based biosensors for cancer diagnostics

The implementation of a wide diagnostic campaign to diagnose cancer early could save millions of lives and billions of dollars every year. Unfortunately, cancer diagnosis is extremely complicated and current approaches rely on the use of expensive equipment and specialized personnel, which hamper their deployment in low- and middle-income settings. Here, we analyze the technical challenges that must be overcome to achieve precise cancer diagnostics and we describe how such hurdles have limited the development of point-of-care (PoC) sensors. Then, we explain why we believe recent achievements in the field of paper-based sensors could allow their use as widely available sensing platforms for cancer detection. Finally, we present our vision of what should be done in order to make paper-based sensors widely used diagnostics platforms for cancer.

Automated summary

Implementing a widespread diagnostic campaign for early cancer detection could save millions of lives and billions of dollars annually. However, current approaches to cancer diagnosis are complex and expensive, limiting their use in low- and middle-income settings. This article explores the technical challenges in achieving precise cancer diagnostics and discusses the potential of paper-based sensors as widely available sensing platforms for cancer detection. The authors also present their vision on how to make paper-based sensors a commonly used diagnostic tool for cancer.