Point-of-care detection assay based on biomarker-imprinted polymer for different cancers: a state-of-the-art review

Selective and sensitive biomolecule detection plays an important role in many systems. Although natural recognition elements have high affinity to their target molecules. The molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) has numerous advantages, such as easy preparation, cost-effectiveness, and high stability, selectivity, and affinity toward the template. The quality of the MIPs can be changed with different combinations of experimental conditions and interaction mechanisms. They especially present fundamentally novel abilities in the control of biomolecule concentrations. Due to the need to detect important biomolecules, the applications of MIPs in diagnostics field are growing fast. The amalgamation of biomarker as target molecule with MIPs could resolve several challenges in the early detection of different cancers. Early diagnosis of cancer generally increases the chances for successful treatment by focusing on detecting symptomatic patients. Detecting cancer disease at an early stage is one of the most important challenge faced by medical fraternity and researchers for better survival rate of cancer patients. This review aims at giving a critical perspective related to significant recent achievements in cancer detection based on biomarkers-imprinted polymer. Here, different cancers and the biomarker for their detection are reported and several MIPs prepared along with limit of detection and application in real sample have been discussed on the basis of literature review. It can be concluded that the use of biomarker-based MIPs for early detection of cancer improves the efficiency of point-of-care medical application of the disease. The conclusions and future perspectives are summarized at the end of the review. Graphical abstract