Metal nanoparticle based biosensors for biomarker recognition: a review

The determination of blood biomarkers in blood, tissues or other body fluids is crucial for many therapeutic and pathological interventions. Recently, metal nanoparticle-based biosensors have gained significant attention for the sensitive detection of such relevant biomarkers. This review summarizes recent advances in biosensors, based on copper (Cu), silver (Ag), gold (Au), and platinum (Pt) nanoparticles for detecting biomarkers for cancer, neurotransmitters, infectious diseases and metabolites. The unique properties of metal derived nanomaterials such as high surface area, excellent catalytic activity and tuneable optoelectronic features provide diverse sensing platforms such as colorimetric, fluorescence, electrochemical and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) based systems. Functionalization with biomolecules such as enzymes, aptamers, antibodies, and molecularly imprinted polymers enhances detection efficiency. In addition to promising sensing and other analytical performances, various forefront challenges and required steps for medical diagnostics and therapeutics advancement with metal nanoclusters have also been discussed in this review.