An update on Nanomaterial-based biosensing systems for discriminative diagnosis of breast cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the primary causes of death among women worldwide. Precise diagnosis of breast cancer provides opportunities for early treatment, thereby reducing mortality rate and increasing patient lifespan. Biosensors are diagnostic platforms integrated with different materials for biomarker detection, representing an important tool to detect recurrence and monitor drug effectiveness for breast cancer. Improving the sensitivity and selectivity of biosensor is thus mandatory for the development of point-of-care detection system. Both nanostructured metals and semiconductors are attractive materials in the development of biosensors due to higher surface area, solubility, good electrical conductivity, and appealing optical properties. Nanomaterials are generally used for amplifying the signal, and immobilizing biomolecules and electroactive species. Nanomaterial-based biosensors have enhanced capacity in target identification, which enables disease diagnosis at an earlier stage. This review discusses the diagnosis of breast cancer biomarkers and the recent development of diagnostic systems integrated with nanomaterial-assisted biosensor.