Electrochemical Immunosensing for Cancer Biomarkers

Electrochemical immunosensors exploit the specificity of antigen–antibody interactions to generate an electrical signal proportional to biomarker concentration. By immobilising antibodies or aptamers on conductive electrodes, these devices transduce molecular recognition into measurable current, potential or impedance changes. Recent advances in nanomaterials, including graphene derivatives, metallic nanoparticles and metal–organic frameworks, have markedly enhanced electron transfer, surface area and bioreceptor loading. Integration with microfluidic platforms and multiplexed arrays enables simultaneous detection of multiple tumour markers in small sample volumes. Collectively, these innovations promise rapid, low-cost, point-of-care assays for early cancer diagnosis, prognosis and therapy monitoring with limits of detection approaching the femtomolar range.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have described an ultrasensitive, label-free electrochemiluminescent immunosensor for prostate-specific antigen. By incorporating aminated and carboxyl-functionalised graphene quantum dots onto a bimetallic nanocomposite electrode, the platform achieves a detection limit of approximately 0.3 pg mL⁻¹ and a broad linear range from picograms to nanograms per millilitre in serum. Foundational work has also illustrated the use of hierarchically structured electrode interfaces to optimise electron-transfer kinetics and stabilise signal output for low-abundance antigen detection.

Electrochemical Immunosensing for Cancer Biomarkers publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in electrochemical immunosensing for cancer biomarkers across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Electrochemical immunosensor: A device using immobilised antibodies or aptamers on an electrode to convert antigen binding events into an electrical signal.

Aptamer: A short, single-stranded nucleic acid selected for high-affinity binding to a specific target molecule, used as an alternative to antibodies.

Metal–organic framework (MOF): A porous coordination polymer composed of metal ions and organic linkers, offering high surface area and tunable electrochemical properties.

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL): Light emission resulting from electrochemically generated excited states, employed for sensitive detection without external light sources.

Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV): An electroanalytical technique in which small potential pulses are superimposed on a linear sweep to enhance resolution of current responses.

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS): A frequency-domain method that measures the impedance of an electrochemical interface to characterise binding events and interfacial properties.

References

1. Current Technologies of Electrochemical Immunosensors: Perspective on Signal Amplification. Sensors (2018).
2. Electrochemical aptasensor based on the engineered core-shell MOF nanostructures for the detection of tumor antigens. Journal of Nanobiotechnology (2023).
3. Label-free Electrochemiluminescent Immunosensor for Detection of Prostate Specific Antigen based on Aminated Graphene Quantum Dots and Carboxyl Graphene Quantum Dots. Scientific Reports (2016).
4. Graphene-Based Biosensors for Detection of Biomarkers. Micromachines (2020).