Recent advancement in the detection of potential cancer biomarkers using the nanomaterial integrated electrochemical sensing technique: a detailed review

Abstract

Cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide but early diagnosis, management or screening and treatment of cancer can significantly improve the survival rate of cancer patients. Oral cancer is the sixth most common cancer leading to approx. one-third of deaths worldwide. Oral cancer poses a serious threat due to its soaring case-fatality rate and metastatic characteristics and it is a type of head and neck cancer where cancerous tissue growth is located in the oral cavity. Also, lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the world with a five-year survival rate of only 15%. However, conventional techniques are available for cancer detection but these techniques are time consuming and involve a pretreatment process and sophisticated instruments. Therefore, technological advancement in the area of electrochemical sensors with miniaturization of point-of-care devices including nanomaterials has shown significant enhancement in overall sensing performance for cancer detection. Non-invasive diagnosis of cancer reduces the death risk of the disease or increases survival rate. Therefore, in this review article, the background of cancer, definition of the problem related to cancer, available conventional techniques for diagnosis and recent progress in the development of electrochemical sensors for cancer detection using nanomaterials are summarized. This review emphasizes on the use of an electrochemical sensing technique that can provide simpler, faster, non-invasive and ultraprecise detection of cancer biomarkers. Additionally, this review focuses on the recent literature on cancer detection and advancement in the diagnosis and treatment together with future perspectives on further advancements.