An Overview on Electrochemical Approaches for the Detection of Alpha-Fetoprotein

Abstract

Cancer biomarkers have a remarkable role for not only early-stage detection of cancer but also in the monitoring therapy efficacy. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is one of the biomarkers which is highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Therefore, a high level of AFP can be considered for early diagnosis of HCC. Electrochemical assays can be used as the miniaturized biosensors for real-time detection of the analytes which are mostly categorized into three groups for AFP detection including immunosensors, aptasensors, and molecularly imprinted polymer-based sensors. All of these techniques provide beneficial detection features of fast and cost-effective compared with other analytical methods. This review describes the most recent electrochemical platforms for AFP detection to provide a perspective for future studies.

Keywords: Electrochemical analysis, Alpha-fetoprotein, Electrochemical sensing, Point-of care detection