Advanced Functional Structure‐Based Sensing and Imaging Strategies for Cancer Detection: Possibilities, Opportunities, Challenges, and Prospects

Abstract

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the world. The principal limitations thus far encountered in the clinical practice of probing cancer are diverse and include low sensitivity, time consumption, bulkiness, and cost. In this respect, nanomaterial (NM)-based sensing techniques are recognized as a superior alternative to efficiently resolve such limitations. A better understanding of NM-based sensing platforms is thus important so that these novel avenues can easily be explored for clinical applications. These platforms have the merits of high sensitivity, high specificity, rapid response, and easy-to-read signals. This review offers a comprehensive survey of NM-based advanced cancer-sensing techniques and will help the scientific community establish optimum sensing strategies based on an accurate assessment of the interactions between cancer biomarkers and NM-based platforms.but are not limited to, carcinoma, sarcoma, leukemia, lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, myeloma, central nervous system cancer, lung and bronchus cancer, colon cancer, rectum cancer, prostate cancer, bladder cancer, kidney and renal pelvis cancer, endometrial cancer, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, and thyroid cancers. [1] Moreover, the most commonly occurring cancers tend to differ by common criteria like sex and age. For example, men are at risk for prostate, lung, and colorectal cancer, women are at risk for breast, lung and colorectal cancer, and children are at risk for leukemia, brain tumors, and lymphoma. The severity of the cancer depends upon the development level or staging of the disease. [2] Likewise, the type of treatment required to treat the cancer is determined by the staging of the disease.The more severe condition of cancer is metastasis, i.e., the uncontrolled growth of cells that invade surrounding tissues. The metastasis condition of cancer can affect any organ of the body. [3] As per the WHO 2010 report on cancer, the lives of 30% patients could have been saved if the cancer was diagnosed earlier. The detection of cancer is not easy because the immune system does not necessarily consider cancerous cells as foreign bodies. However, a few changes (such as altered biomarker levels and the presence of cancerous cells in biological fluids) can be detected. [4] In general, cancer biomarkers are overexpressed proteins present in blood/serum and at the cancer cell surface. The accurate and efficient detection of these biomarkers can be useful for cancer detection. The major problem with biomarkers is their low level in the body during the earlier stages of cancer. Hence, an efficient sensor/device capable of detecting these molecules even at very low levels, if developed, could help the clinician efficiently diagnose cancer cells in the human body.The sensing techniques presently used by clinicians suffer from several limitations; specifically, they are time consuming, bulky, have low sensitivity, and are expensive. Nanomaterial (NM)-based techniques have become an important alternative to the laborious conventional...

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