Gold and magnetic nanoparticles-based electrochemical biosensors for cancer biomarker determination

Detecting cancer at early stage is one of the most important factors associated with the increase of the survival rate of the patients. Cancer biomarkers are able to detect a specific disease early and help to provide treatments before it becomes incurable in later stages. Biomarkers can also be used to determine the recurrence of the disease and to evaluate the follow-up of the patients after a chemio- or radio-therapy and surgery treatments. Electrochemical biosensors are successfully applied for the detection of cancer biomarkers due to their high sensibility, rapid response and low cost. In recent years, the advance in nanotechnology has led to the discovery and the employment of a great number of new materials in nanoscale dimensions. Due to their particular properties, the development of nanostructured biosensors (in particular using gold and magnetic nanoparticles) with high analytical performances increases constantly. In this review recent different strategies for the development of gold and magnetic nanoparticles-based electrochemical biosensors for cancer biomarkers detection were presented.