Nanomaterial-Mediated Electrochemical and Optical Biosensors and Their Application in Tumour Marker Detection

Cancer constitutes a category of diseases with high mortality rates, where early and precise detection plays a crucial role in diagnosis and treatment. Tumour markers are biomolecules produced during cancer progression, predominantly inert molecules that prove difficult to detect at low concentrations. Traditional detection methods, however, exhibit shortcomings in sensitivity and convenience. Biosensors, with their portability and high sensitivity, hold broad application prospects for detecting tumour markers. Nanomaterials, enhancing detection performance through signal amplification mechanisms, have increasingly become the primary choice for improving sensor analytical capabilities. This review retrieved 60 relevant publications from the Web of Science and PubMed databases (2018-2024) covering "nanomaterials, biosensors, tumour markers", focusing on those employing signal amplification mechanisms and providing clinical sample validation. It summarises signal amplification mechanisms in nanomaterial-mediated electrochemical and optical biosensors, contrasting the differences between these two sensor types. This review focuses on the relationship between "nanomaterial functionality, signal amplification, and clinical application". It systematises and presents the latest advances in nanomaterial-mediated biosensors for detecting tumour markers, analysing the challenges encountered in their clinical implementation. While providing guidance for the clinical translation of nanomaterial-mediated biosensors from laboratory research, their practical application still requires validation through further multicentre, large-scale studies.