Advances in electrochemical aptasensing for cardiac biomarkers

Novel bio‐receptors or bio‐recognition molecular markers with high specificity, stability, and affinity for the efficient binding and entrapment of target biomolecules are essential for developing biomedical devices with high sensitivity and reliability. Aptamers are peptide or nucleic‐acid (DNA or RNA) molecules capable of binding to target biomarkers by forming a unique three‐dimensional structure, providing an effective platform for biosensing. This review comprehensively summarizes the progress of label‐free and label‐based electrochemical aptasensors for the detection of various biomarkers related to cardiovascular diseases. It also outlines the fundamental properties of different cardiac biomarkers, synthesis of target‐specific aptamers, and working principles, such as single receptor and sandwich, of the different types of sensing assays for the electrochemical detection of cardiac biomarkers while highlighting the current challenges and future perspectives. Since its introduction as a bio‐receptor in 1996, aptamer has attracted growing interest in developing biomarker sensors. This review summarized the recent advances of electrochemical aptasensors for detecting cardiac biomarkers by highlighting the fundamentals of cardiac markers, selection of high‐affinity aptamers, mechanisms involved in cardiac marker aptasensing, and the challenges and future perspectives.