New Adsorption-Based Biosensors for Cancer Detections and Role of Nano-medicine in Its Prognosis and Inhibition

Biosensors can be fabricated using nanomaterials in a certain way, which provides inexpensive, quick, and efficient systems as compared to the heavy traditional instruments used for the early cancer diagnosis. There are ways to prove the credibility, efficiency, and selectivity of such sensors for certain cancer types. Each biosensor serves for only one cancer type and doesn’t serve for more, for example, the biosensor for the pancreatic cancer is different than that for the breast cancer. Once cancer is diagnosed, many kinds of nanoparticles have been known for transporting appropriate anticancer agents to the point of action, based on their chemical modifications and the ligands attached, which facilitate the drug delivery in certain ways. Various factors such as compatibility, bio-distribution, circulation time, degradation, and conditions for bioavailability of drugs are essential in the investigation of the drug delivery process. The selectivity of chemotherapeutics is of great importance and has been achieved through various biological weapons such as monoclonal antibodies specifically designed to recognize and bind certain organic molecules like protein and DNA in cancer cells and hence detected, destroyed, and/or growth inhibited by the immune system. Another approach is to transport the anticancer drugs to the point of activity by conjugating them with the monoclonal antibodies or by incorporation into nanocarriers. Various inhibitors such as tyrosine kinase can inhibit abnormal growth characteristic of cancer and can be used to prevent unwanted growth. Some coordination metal complexes have been known to inhibit cancer growth as well which will also be discussed in the chapter.