Aptasensors for Point-of-Care Diagnostics of Cancer

The early detection of cancer biomarkers with high sensitivity and selectivity is of the utmost importance in curing cancer at an early stage. In this scenario, numerous biosensor-based diagnostic techniques have been reported to detect cancer-associated biomarkers very efficiently at ultra-low concentrations thereby helping in the prognosis and early detection of cancerous conditions.Consequently, aptasensor-based point-of-care testing is gaining momentum among researchers and clinicians for the detection of cancer biomarkers.

Aptamers are a group of nucleic acids (single-stranded DNA or RNA) with similar functionality to antibodies and intend to specifically bind to the target analytes. Aptamer-based Point-of-care devices are robust, cost-effective, offers high sensitivity, and selectively detect disease-specific biomarkers which helps clinician and medical personnel rapidly to examine in real-time disease condition and provide accurate results in a faster and understandable format. The excellent advantageous characteristics of aptasensors such as high stability, rapid diagnosis, cost-effectiveness, and the ability of miniaturization make them suitable for on-site monitoring of diseases.

The capability of smart monitoring and intelligent disease management along with maintenance of proper medical records have now been possible by integrating point-of-care technology devices with a wireless platform through the internet-of-medical things. These devices also have notable sustainability in harsh conditions and have a long shelf life, especially in comparison with conventional antibody-based testing devices.