• Nano-biosensors Revolutionizing Breast Cancer Detection: Current Advances and Future Prospects
  • Mahdi Soroushianfar,1 MohammadJavad Haratizadeh,2 Soheil Sadr,3 Hassan Borji,4,*
    1. Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Mashhad, Iran
    2. Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Mashhad, Iran
    3. Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Mashhad, Iran
    4. Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Mashhad, Iran


  • Introduction: Breast cancer is a global health concern, ranking as one of the most prevalent and deadly cancers among women worldwide. Timely and accurate detection of breast cancer is pivotal to successful treatment outcomes and patient survival. In recent years, significant strides have been made in the development and utilization of nano-biosensors as cutting-edge technology for breast cancer early diagnosis and monitoring. Nano-biosensors represent the convergence of nanotechnology and bioscience, offering unique advantages in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and real-time monitoring capabilities. These miniature sensing devices harness nanomaterial properties such as gold nanoparticles, quantum dots, graphene, and carbon nanotubes. They detect specific biomarkers associated with breast cancer at ultra-low concentrations. By interfacing with biological molecules, such as antibodies or DNA strands, nano-biosensors can selectively recognize and bind to breast cancer-related molecules, allowing for precise and rapid detection. Nano-biosensors for breast cancer detection have made remarkable progress. Researchers have demonstrated their efficacy in identifying various biomarkers, including circulating tumor cells, estrogen receptors, and HER2/neu. Moreover, these sensors offer the potential for non-invasive or minimally invasive testing, reducing patient discomfort and enhancing early diagnosis. This article delves into the current status of nano-biosensors in breast cancer detection. By shedding light on these developments, we aim to contribute to ongoing efforts to enhance breast cancer diagnosis and ultimately improve patient outcomes.
  • Methods: We carried out a thorough search across five different databases in order to locate papers that were published between January 2001 and August 2023 that were connected to the current status of nano-biosensors in the detection of breast cancer. Through a series of keyword searches, a total of 450 publications were found. These searches included topics such as Nanotechnology, Nano-biosensors, Breast cancer, and Biomarkers. From among these, we chose thirty publications with full abstracts that were relevant to the topic of our research and used them in our investigation.
  • Results: The latest strategies, advances, and uses of nano-biosensors in breast cancer evaluation provide useful insights. It remains a critical issue to diagnose breast cancer early using point-of-care platforms, despite the wide variety of reports that have been published in this field. Initially, evaluating breast cancer is challenging because of the very low and wide variety of biomarkers. While nano-biosensors are more precise and faster than traditional methods for detecting biomarkers, physicians are concerned about the use of nano-biosensor-based point-of-care methods due to inaccurate results, like overestimation. Breast cancer early detection is challenging due to the lack of point-of-care diagnostic technology, insufficient sensitivity, selectiveness, and specialized knowledge that leads to false positives. POC diagnostic devices are needed by BC oncologists. Several studies have been carried out on developing small biosensors with less energy consumption and faster detection rates.
  • Conclusion: Researchers have worked on developing biosensors to identify biomarkers of breast cancer over the past few years. Nanotechnology and novel developments have made biosensors a crucial and beneficial tool for detecting BC. Identifying BC biomarkers via electrochemical biosensors has made significant advancements in recent years because of nanotechnology and biosensor methods. Even though medical diagnosis has advanced considerably in the last decade, there remain great challenges associated with traditional medical diagnosis. These challenges include a lack of POC devices, expert knowledge, low sensitivity, and selectiveness resulting in false positives. BC oncologists need POC diagnostic tools. Several studies have been conducted in order to develop small biosensors that consume less energy and have a shorter detection time.
  • Keywords: Nanotechnology, Nano-biosensor, Breast cancer, Biomarker, Point-of-care