Electrochemical Analysis of Clinical Samples – A Path to Translational Research

Abstract

Precise diagnostics of cancer or other diseases is crucial when selecting proper treatment. Personalized medicine puts high demands on the accuracy of nucleic acid biomarkers analysis, where subtle differences at the nucleotide level are often involved. Isothermal amplification techniques offer new possibilities of DNA and RNA amplification without using PCR, and their combination with electrochemistry provide a promising fast and cost-effective alternative diagnostic tool. Although electrochemical biosensors are still insufficiently applied to clinical material, thus hindering their development, recent advancements show great promise in translational research. Banks of biological material (biobanks) are specialized workplaces focused on the long-term preservation and processing of clinical material and offer a wide range of expert services, primarily for research purposes, in particular the provision of biological samples and associated pseudonymized data. Their involvement in the field of electrochemical biosensors can facilitate application of electrochemical methods into clinical laboratories and expand the portfolio of currently used diagnostic methods.