Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Jan 28;23(3):1482.
doi: 10.3390/s23031482.

Biomarkers and Corresponding Biosensors for Childhood Cancer Diagnostics

Azadeh Gharehzadehshirazi  1 , Mashaalah Zarejousheghani  2 , Sedigheh Falahi  1 , Yvonne Joseph  1   2 , Parvaneh Rahimi  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Biomarkers and Corresponding Biosensors for Childhood Cancer Diagnostics

Azadeh Gharehzadehshirazi et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Although tremendous progress has been made in treating childhood cancer, it is still one of the leading causes of death in children worldwide. Because cancer symptoms overlap with those of other diseases, it is difficult to predict a tumor early enough, which causes cancers in children to be more aggressive and progress more rapidly than in adults. Therefore, early and accurate detection methods are urgently needed to effectively treat children with cancer therapy. Identification and detection of cancer biomarkers serve as non-invasive tools for early cancer screening, prevention, and treatment. Biosensors have emerged as a potential technology for rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective biomarker detection and monitoring. In this review, we provide an overview of important biomarkers for several common childhood cancers. Accordingly, we have enumerated the developed biosensors for early detection of pediatric cancer or related biomarkers. This review offers a restructured platform for ongoing research in pediatric cancer diagnostics that can contribute to the development of rapid biosensing techniques for early-stage diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of children with cancer and reduce the mortality rate.

Keywords: biomarker; biosensor; cancer; childhood; early-stage diagnosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic picture of a biosensor’s construction and function.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of Au NPs/Fe3O4/rGO nanocomposite preparation, immobilization of label-free as well as labeled aptamer on the surface of Au NPs/Fe3O4/rGO, and electrochemical analysis for determination of miRNA-128 concentration [23], reprinted with permission from WILEY.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic illustration of electrochemical immunosensor as a point-of-care test for detecting CCL17/TARC [72], reprinted with permission from American Chemical Society.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Schematic representation of working principle of the steps involved in the proposed sensing strategy for quantifying PD-L1 in undiluted whole-blood media [90], reprinted with permission from Royal Society of Chemistry.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Schematic illustration of the dual-signal amplification-based platform for the ultrasensitive detection of exosomes. The primer contains the RCA primer (labeled in black) and AS1411 aptamer (labeled in gray) [91], reprinted with permission from Royal Society of Chemistry.
Figure 6
Figure 6
A schematic of the principle of the real-time nanoribbon (NR)-based RNA detection [101], reprinted with permission from MDPI.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO . CureAll Framework: WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer: Increasing Access, Advancing Quality, Saving Lives. WHO; Geneva, Switzerland: 2021.
    1. Zhang J., Walsh M.F., Wu G., Edmonson M.N., Gruber T.A., Easton J., Hedges D., Ma X., Zhou X., Yergeau D.A. Germline mutations in predisposition genes in pediatric cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 2015;373:2336–2346. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1508054. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lam C.G., Howard S.C., Bouffet E., Pritchard-Jones K. Science and health for all children with cancer. Science. 2019;363:1182–1186. doi: 10.1126/science.aaw4892. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Magrath I., Steliarova-Foucher E., Epelman S., Ribeiro R.C., Harif M., Li C.-K., Kebudi R., Macfarlane S.D., Howard S.C. Paediatric cancer in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet Oncol. 2013;14:e104–e116. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(13)70008-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Steliarova-Foucher E., Colombet M., Ries L.A.G., Moreno F., Dolya A., Bray F., Hesseling P., Shin H.Y., Stiller C.A., Bouzbid S. International incidence of childhood cancer, 2001–2010: A population-based registry study. Lancet Oncol. 2017;18:719–731. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(17)30186-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed