Chapter 5 - Electrochemical Immunosensors for Rapid Detection of Breast Cancer Biomarkers

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers and an issue of high concern among women all over the world. Today researchers have received much attention by developing reliable biosensors for breast cancer biomarkers. Electrochemical detection strategies together with immunosensing platforms offer multiple advantages for the development of highly sensitive, selective, portable, and low cost, point-of-care systems for clinical diagnosis. Recent advancements in electrochemical immunoassays have greatly improved the sensitivity of the developed detection methods to quantify breast cancer biomarkers at ultra-trace level which is very impressive. Further, various signal amplification strategies have been followed to fabricate extremely specific biosensing interfaces using signal tags labeled with conducting nanomaterials, enzymes/multienzymes, or magnetic beads. This chapter discusses recent advances in the development of electrochemical immunosensors for the quantification of clinically relevant protein biomarkers of breast cancer tumors. Details regarding multilabeled detection antibodies coupled with specific capture antibodies at sensor surfaces and electrochemical screening of biomarkers as antigens are discussed. Possible opportunities for further improvement in the area of electrochemical immunoassays toward cancer diagnostics are also provided.