Biosensor-based assay of exosome biomarker for early diagnosis of cancer

Cancer imposes a severe threat to people's health and lives, thus pressing a huge medical and economic burden on individuals and communities. Therefore, early diagnosis of cancer is indispensable in the timely prevention and effective treatment for patients. Exosome has recently become an attractive cancer biomarker in noninvasive early diagnosis because of the unique physiology and pathology functions, which reflects remarkable information regarding the cancer microenvironment, and plays an important role in the occurrence and evolution of cancer. Meanwhile, biosensors have gained great attention for the detection of exosomes due to their superior properties, such as convenient operation, real-time readout, high sensitivity, and remarkable specificity, suggesting promising biomedical applications in the early diagnosis of cancer. In this review, the latest advances of biosensors regarding the assay of exosomes were summarized, and the superiorities of exosomes as markers for the early diagnosis of cancer were evaluated. Moreover, the recent challenges and further opportunities of developing effective biosensors for the early diagnosis of cancer were discussed.