Biosensors for α-synuclein detection: Towards an improved diagnosis of Parkinson's disease

Diagnosis of Parkinson's disease remains a clinical exercise based on the assessment of motor symptoms, which often results in diagnosis performed in more advanced stages of the disease. The limitations of current diagnostic technologies emphasize the need for the development of sensitive and cost-effective biosensing technologies. In this regard, a comprehensive review of the biosensors developed during the last decade towards biosensing of Parkinson's disease is presented, focusing on the detection of α-synuclein and related species. This review highlights the main advances, challenges and future prospects on the development of electrochemical and optical affinity biosensors where the integration of nanomaterials, such as gold nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes and graphene, enabled the design of highly sensitive biosensors with reported detection limits in the sub-picomolar levels. Nonetheless, there is still a major gap in the biosensing field concerning the development of multiplexed platforms capable of addressing the multifactorial nature of this disease.