Recent advances in nanomaterial-enhanced biosensing methods for hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for major part of primary liver cancer, which is one of the most dangerous malignant tumors worldwide. Although early detection and treatment can greatly improve patient well-being, most of HCC patients still fail to be timely diagnosed and managed, as the symptoms are unconspicuous and are difficult to examine at the early stage. To tackle the challenge, nanomaterial-enhanced HCC biosensing methods are rapidly developed by integrating specific recognition elements of HCC-related biomarkers with different nanomaterials. These methods demonstrate high sensitivity and selectivity toward HCC-related detection in vitro and in vivo, and thus play a pivotal role in early diagnosis. This review aims to provide an overview of recent advances in the field of nanomaterials-enhanced biosensing methods for HCC diagnosis by highlighting a number of representative works. Particular attention is focused on different types of HCC-related biomarkers, including nucleic acid, protein, HCC cells and cell-derived exosomes. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.