Recent advances of electrochemical and optical biosensors for detection of C-reactive protein as a major inflammatory biomarker

Early detection of inflammatory mediators including C-reactive protein (CRP) is of great diagnostic importance in many human diseases. CRP elevates very fast in conditions such as tissue injuries, infections, cancers, and renal and cardiovascular diseases. Conventional techniques for detecting CRP are based on antigen-antibody, agglutination, and precipitation reactions. Newer methods based on immunoturbidimetry and immunonephelometry are also time-consuming and relatively expensive. For solving these problems, highly efficient techniques based on CRP-biosensors have been introduced. Here, our aim was to summarize the features of recent biosensors for detection of CRP in biological samples. These include electrochemical (voltammetric and impedimetric), optical (surface plasmon resonance, fluorescence and luminescence), field effect transistor (FET), and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) biosensors which have been addressed in detail here.