Tungsten oxide thin film field-effect transistor based real-time sensing system for non-invasive oral cancer biomarker detection

We have presented real-time and label-free CYFRA 21-1 detection in artificial saliva using a tungsten oxide (WO3) thin film transistor with wafer scale batch fabrication. In this work, we developed a miniaturized (FET) biosensing platform based on antibody-antigen interaction at the channel surface for real-time CYFRA 21-1 detection in artificial saliva. The fabricated FET device showed rapid and high response towards the CYFRA 21-1 antigen in artificial saliva, with the highest response of 122.88 at 1 pg/mL and a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.26 pg/mL. This device demonstrated the detection capability of different CYFRA 21-1 concentrations in artificial saliva with high specificity towards the targeted antigen to detect oral cancer biomarker and given a response in real-time. Unlike other methods for oral cancer detection, this study demonstrates an innovative biosensing device platform for directly detecting oral cancer biomarkers in saliva without labeling or pre-processing the sample. This method shows the highest sensitivity with a minimum sample volume requirement (2 µL) for early-stage oral cancer diagnosis. Moreover, this work showed the prospect of batch fabrication and uniformity among batch-fabricated devices.