Electrochemical Genosensing of Circulating Biomarkers

Abstract

Management and prognosis of diseases requires the measurement in non- or minimally invasively collected samples of specific circulating biomarkers, consisting of any measurable or observable factors in patients that indicate normal or disease-related biological processes or responses to therapy. Therefore, on-site, fast and accurate determination of these low abundance circulating biomarkers in scarcely treated body fluids is of great interest for health monitoring and biological applications. In this field, electrochemical DNA sensors (or genosensors) have demonstrated to be interesting alternatives to more complex conventional strategies. Currently, electrochemical genosensors are considered very promising analytical tools for this purpose due to their fast response, low cost, high sensitivity, compatibility with microfabrication technology and simple operation mode which makes them compatible with point-of-care (POC) testing. In this review, the relevance and current challenges of the determination of circulating biomarkers related to relevant diseases (cancer, bacterial and viral infections and neurodegenerative diseases) are briefly discussed. An overview of the electrochemical nucleic acid–based strategies developed in the last five years for this purpose is given to show to both familiar and non-expert readers the great potential of these methodologies for circulating biomarker determination. After highlighting the main features of the reported electrochemical genosensing strategies through the critical discussion of selected examples, a conclusions section points out the still existing challenges and future directions in this field.

Programmable and Multifunctional DNA‐Based Materials for Biomedical Applications

“…The population variations in expression of a single biomarker in certain diseases and/or from the lack of specificity to a particular disease of the target biomarker may lead to “false‐positive” diagnosis; therefore, measurements of a panel of biomarkers in parallel are typically needed for early disease detection and personalized therapy . A variety of platforms to monitor multitarget have been established in biomedical field.…”

Non-Invasive Breast Cancer Diagnosis through Electrochemical Biosensing at Different Molecular Levels

“…They can derive from various molecular origins, including small DNAs (i.e., specific mutations in characteristic genes such as BCRA1 ), cell-free DNAs, messenger and microRNAs (mRNAs and miRNAs), proteins (soluble or membrane-associated proteins and glycoproteins), exosomes and tumor cells. Sensitive and rapid analytical methods for the reliable determination of these biomarkers in liquid biopsy samples are crucial since their level is useful for understanding the pathogenesis of disease prognosis, for early and reliable diagnosis and in the development of new therapeutic treatment regimens [ 12 ].…”

Electrochemical Sensing Platforms for HER2‐ECD Breast Cancer Biomarker Detection

“…Although detection is usually achieved with high efficiency, it only allows the visualization of the tumour and cannot predict its biological behaviour and evolution [2,3]. Nevertheless, the evolution of clinical methods for effective detection of breast cancer along with the development of non-invasive and low-cost in situ techniques can improve survival rates and allow personalized patient follow-up [2,4]. These non-invasive methods are a prominent alternative not only regarding response time but also to minimize the patients' suffering.…”

“…For this purpose, biosensors have been developed because they provide fast analysis and specific recognition. Therefore, their development is in continuous expansion and they have widely been applied in point-of-care detection [4,5]. Current innovations in the field of biosensing lead to accurate results in the analysis of tumour biomarkers in patients' biological fluids such as serum, plasma, whole blood, urine, etc.…”