Review—Metal and Metal Oxide Nanoparticles/Nanocomposites as Electrochemical Biosensors for Cancer Detection

Nanomaterials have been employed in the fabrication of electrical biosensors owing to their significantly high surface area to volume ratio, excellent electrical conductivity & good affinity towards biomolecules. Integrating nanomaterials with electrochemical techniques has increased the efficiency & detection limits of electrochemical analytical tool for the identification of various types of disease biomarkers. This review aims to provide a wide coverage of the current advances in the fabrication of metal & metal oxide nanocomposite based electrochemical biosesnors for the identification of various types of cancer biomarkers such as Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), CA 125, platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB), MUC1, Matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), HER2, EGFR, H 2 O 2 , 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-HDG), miR-196B & cancerous cells such as OE21 & OE21–1, MCF-7 etc. Following a brief description on cancer diagnosis, electrochemical biosensors & its types, main focus is laid on the recent advances in the use of metal & metal oxide nanocomposites especially of Ag, Au, Cu, Fe, Ti & layered double hydroxides (LDH) as electrochemical biosensors due to their wide sensing applications. Mechanism details of electrochemical biosensing of such electrochemical biosensors have also been discussed. At last existing challenges & future prospects are discussed in details.