Abstract
Primary liver cancer is an aggressive, lethal malignancy that ranks as the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Its 5-year mortality rate is estimated to be more than 95%. This significant low survival rate is due to poor diagnosis, which can be referred to as the lack of sufficient and early-stage detection methods. Many liver cancer-associated non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been extensively examined to serve as promising biomarkers for precise diagnostics, prognostics, and the evaluation of the therapeutic progress. For the simple, rapid, and selective ncRNA detection, various nanomaterial-enhanced biosensors have been developed based on electrochemical, optical, and electromechanical detection methods. This review presents ncRNAs as the potential biomarkers for the early-stage diagnosis of liver cancer. Moreover, a comprehensive overview of recent developments in nanobiosensors for liver cancer-related ncRNA detection is provided.
Highlights
Among different types of biomarkers used for Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) diagnosis, ncRNAs are recognized as a new and distinct class of cancer biomarkers for the early-stage detection of liver cancer
Regarding the key role of ncRNAs in the early detection of cancers and related diseases, DNA-based biosensors offer a promising platform for ncRNA detection and present various advantages, such as simplicity, reliability, and high sensitivity and selectivity
Due to the low amount of ncRNAs in a real human cancerous sample at the early stage of liver cancer, it is highly demanded to improve the sensitivity of related biosensors
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The most utilized pathological biomarker for HCC screening is alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) [27] which has several limitations, such as having high levels in liver cirrhosis and hepatitis, low sensitivity, and poor selectivity at an early stage of disease [28,29]. Despite the fact that ncRNAs do not encode for proteins, they are recognized as a new and distinct class of cancer biomarkers acting as cellular regulators [30,31] They play a remarkable role as a regulator in a variety of biological and cellular processes. Over the last few years, several biosensing concepts and related biosensor-based techniques have been developed to detect specific biomarkers such as ncRNAs [38,39].
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