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Review
. 2025 Sep 1:292:127954.
doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2025.127954. Epub 2025 Mar 15.

A perspective on the potential use of aptamer-based field-effect transistor sensors as biosensors for ovarian cancer biomarkers CA125 and HE4

Johny Bajgai  1 , Minsang Jun  2 , Joon Hak Oh  2 , Jong-Han Lee  3
Affiliations
Review

A perspective on the potential use of aptamer-based field-effect transistor sensors as biosensors for ovarian cancer biomarkers CA125 and HE4

Johny Bajgai et al. Talanta. .

Abstract

Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the most fatal gynaecological malignancies, primarily because of its typically asymptomatic early stages, which complicates early detection. Therefore, developing sensitive and appropriate biomarkers for efficient diagnosis of OC is urgently needed. Aptamers, short sequences of single-stranded DNA or RNA molecules, have become crucial in tumor diagnosis because of their high affinity for specific molecules produced by tumors. This ability allows aptamers to accurately detect OC, thus providing better survival rates and a reduced disease burden. Biosensors that combine recognition molecules and nanomaterials are essential in various fields, including disease diagnosis and health management. Molecular-specific field-effect transistor (FET) biosensors are particularly promising due to their rapid response times, ease of miniaturization, and high sensitivity in detecting OC. Aptamers, which are known for their stability and structural tunability, are increasingly being used as biological recognition units in FET biosensors, offering selective and high-affinity binding to target molecules that are ideal for medical diagnostics. This review explores the recent advancements in biosensors for OC detection, including FET biosensors with aptamer-functionalized nanomaterials for CA125 and HE4. Furthermore, this review provides an overview of the structure and sensing principles of these advanced biosensors, preparation methods and functionalization strategies that enhance their performance. Additionally, notable progress and potential of biosensors, including aptamer-functionalized FET biosensors for OC diagnosis have been summarized, emphasising their role and clinical validation in advancing medical diagnostics and improving patient outcomes through enhanced detection capabilities.

Keywords: Aptamers; Biosensor; Field effect transistor; Medical diagnostics; Ovarian cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Jong-Han Lee reports financial support was provided by the Basic Science Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) and funded by the Ministry of Education. Jong-Han Lee reports a relationship with the Basic Science Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) and funded by the Ministry of Education that includes: funding grants. Nothing to declare If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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