Electrochemical aptamer-based assays coupled to isothermal nucleic acid amplification techniques: New tools for cancer diagnosis

Highly sensitive detection of cancer biomarkers in blood is key not only to find cancer at an early stage but also to help clinicians to decide the best treatment plan and to find how well treatment is working. To quantify the small changes in clinically validated biomarkers associated with carcinogenesis both selective receptors and signal amplification strategies of the recognition event between the receptor and the biomarker are highly in demand. This report covers the most recent developments in the integration of aptamer-based recognition of blood-circulating cancer biomarkers and isothermal nucleic acid amplification platforms with electrochemical readout, highlighting the potential of these novel tools, and the challenges to translate these assays to the clinical practice.