Protein chips and nanomaterials for application in tumor marker immunoassays

Recent advances in molecular biology elucidate that tumor markers play an important role in diagnosis, prognosis and providing insights into the etiology of cancer. Widespread use of tumor markers in healthcare will ultimately depend upon the detection of many tumor markers with high selectivity and sensitivity. This goal has not been obtained with conventional methods which are time-consuming, have poor precision, or experience difficulty in realizing automation. Recently, much attention has been paid to the use of electrochemical immunosensors for the detection of tumor markers due to their high sensitivity, easy miniaturization and automation. This brief review focuses on the current developments, challenges, and trends of electrochemical immunosensors for tumor markers based on protein chips. Whereafter, the recent applications of nanomaterials in tumor marker immunoassays are reviewed. We also introduce some of our group's research works of novel electrochemical immunosensors for the determination of tumor markers. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.