Review—Metal and Metal Oxide Nanoparticles/Nanocomposites as Electrochemical Biosensors for Cancer Detection

Abstract

Nanomaterials have been employed in the fabrication of electrical biosensors owing to their significantly high surface area to volume ratio, excellent electrical conductivity & good affinity towards biomolecules. Integrating nanomaterials with electrochemical techniques has increased the efficiency & detection limits of electrochemical analytical tool for the identification of various types of disease biomarkers. This review aims to provide a wide coverage of the current advances in the fabrication of metal & metal oxide nanocomposite based electrochemical biosesnors for the identification of various types of cancer biomarkers such as Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), CA 125, platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB), MUC1, Matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), HER2, EGFR, H2O2, 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-HDG), miR-196B & cancerous cells such as OE21 & OE21–1, MCF-7 etc. Following a brief description on cancer diagnosis, electrochemical biosensors & its types, main focus is laid on the recent advances in the use of metal & metal oxide nanocomposites especially of Ag, Au, Cu, Fe, Ti & layered double hydroxides (LDH) as electrochemical biosensors due to their wide sensing applications. Mechanism details of electrochemical biosensing of such electrochemical biosensors have also been discussed. At last existing challenges & future prospects are discussed in details.