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Abstract: In cancer, screening and early detection are critical for the success of the patient's treatment and to increase the survival rate. The development of analytical tools for non‐invasive detection, through the analysis of cancer biomarkers, is imperative for disease diagnosis, treatment and follow‐up. Tumour biomarkers refer to substances or processes that, in clinical settings, are indicative of the presence of cancer in the body. These biomarkers can be detected using biosensors, that, because of their fast, accurate and point of care applicability, are prominent alternatives to the traditional methods. Moreover, the constant innovations in the biosensing field improve the determination of normal and/or elevated levels of tumour biomarkers in patients’ biological fluids (such as serum, plasma, whole blood, urine, etc.). Although several biomarkers (DNA, RNA, proteins, cells) are known, the detection of proteins and circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are the most commonly reported due to their approval as tumour biomarkers by the specialized entities and commonly accepted for diagnosis by medical and clinical teams. Therefore, electrochemical immunosensors and cytosensors are vastly described in this review, because of their fast, simple and accurate detection, the low sample volumes required, and the excellent limits of detection obtained. The biosensing strategies reported for the six most commonly diagnosed cancers (lung, breast, colorectal, prostate, liver and stomach) are summarized and the distinct phases of the sensors’ constructions (surface modification, antibody immobilization, immunochemical interactions, detection approach) and applications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitric oxide radical (NO) is a signalling molecule involved in virtually all forms of life. Its relevance has been leading to the development of different analytical methodologies to assess the temporal and spatial fluxes of NO under the complex biological milieu. Third‐generation electrochemical biosensors are promising tools for in loco and in vivo NO quantification and, over the past years, heme proteins and porphyrins have been used in their design. Since there are some limitations with the biorecognition element directly adsorbed onto the electrode surface, nanomaterials (carbon nanotubes, gold nanoparticles, etc.) and polymers (cellulose, chitosan, nafion®, polyacrylamide, among others) have been explored to achieve high kinetics and better biosensor performance. In this review, a broad overview of the field of electrochemical third‐generation biosensors for NO electroanalysis is presented, discussing their main characteristics and aiming new outlooks and advances in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work describes a sensitive voltammetric immunosensor for label‐free electroanalysis of the prostate specific antigen (PSA), the main biomarker of prostate cancer. A gold electrode was firstly modified with the optimum self‐assembled monolayer (SAM), 1,6‐hexanedithiol, followed by the subsequent adsorption of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and, then, the monoclonal antibody to recognize PSA was immobilized. The influence of the most significant experimental variables (SAM type and incubation time, AuNPs deposition, antibody concentration and bovine serum albumin immobilization) on the biosensor response was studied by microscopy and voltammetry techniques. The electroanalytical detection was based on the interaction between PSA antibody and PSA via square‐wave voltammetry using ferrocyanide/ferricyanide as electrochemical redox indicator. Using the proposed immunosensor, PSA was specifically detected within the linear range between 0.2 and 200 ng mL−1 with 0.01 ng mL−1 as limit of detection. The immunosensor allows accurate, reproducible and sensitive (22.7 % reduction mL ng−1) detection in a concentration range useful for clinical purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]