# Electrochemical Biosensors for Cancer Diagnosis and Prognosis Using Protein Biomarkers: Current Trends, Advances, and Clinical Translation Potential

## TL;DR

This paper reviews electrochemical biosensors for detecting cancer-related proteins in blood, aiming to improve early diagnosis and treatment.

## Contribution

The paper provides a critical review of recent advances in electrochemical biosensors for cancer protein biomarkers and discusses barriers to clinical translation.

## Key findings

- Many electrochemical biosensor approaches have achieved high analytical sensitivity for serum protein detection.
- Key barriers to clinical translation include complex sample matrix effects and limited validation with patient samples.
- The paper emphasizes the need for rigorous standardization and validation of biosensors for clinical use.

## Abstract

Cancer, a disease with high mortality, represents a major public health challenge. Increased access to early tumor screening, especially non-invasive liquid biopsy assays targeting blood-circulating protein biomarkers, has advanced cancer diagnosis and treatment, but these assays are still scarce. This work critically reviews general strategies for the rapid and accurate electrochemical detection of serum proteins and surveys recent advances in liquid biopsy electrochemical biosensors targeting cancer-related proteins. Many of these approaches have achieved remarkable analytical sensitivity. The review further addresses key barriers to clinical translation and commercialization, including complex sample matrix effects that require rigorous standardization of preanalytical and analytical workflows, limited validation using patient samples, difficulties in accounting for interpatient variability, and practical considerations such as manufacturability, cost-effective scale-up, and long-term stability. Accordingly, particular emphasis is placed on clinically translatable detection methods, with a focus on the analytical and clinical validation of biosensors.