Advanced Functional Structure-Based Sensing and Imaging Strategies for Cancer Detection: Possibilities, Opportunities, Challenges, and Prospects

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the world. The principal limitations thus far encountered in the clinical practice of probing cancer are diverse and include low sensitivity, time consumption, bulkiness, and cost. In this respect, nanomaterial (NM)-based sensing techniques are recognized as a superior alternative to efficiently resolve such limitations. A better understanding of NM-based sensing platforms is thus important so that these novel avenues can easily be explored for clinical applications. These platforms have the merits of high sensitivity, high specificity, rapid response, and easy-to-read signals. This review offers a comprehensive survey of NM-based advanced cancer-sensing techniques and will help the scientific community establish optimum sensing strategies based on an accurate assessment of the interactions between cancer biomarkers and NM-based platforms.