Recent approaches in the sensing strategy for the detection of cardiovascular disease biomarkers.

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain among the leading non-communicable diseases worldwide, accounting for nearly half of the mortalities annually in both the developing and developed countries. Early diagnosis and timely intervention are therefore critical for effective disease management. In clinical practice, the diagnosis of most cardiac conditions relies on the evaluation of circulating cardiac biomarkers, which offer direct insight into myocardial injury and cardiac function. Beyond traditional gold-standard biomarkers such as cardiac troponins (cTn), B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), and myoglobin, ongoing research aims to identify novel biomarkers with diagnostic and prognostic value. This review overviews cardiac troponin (cTn), the gold-standard CVD biomarker, and discusses emerging candidates including interleukine-6 (IL-6), the soluble isoform of suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (sST2) and microRNAs. Particular attention is given to their potential integration into point-of-care (PoC) biosensor platforms for real-time monitoring of cardiovascular conditions. The development of rapid, sensitive, specific, precise, and cost-efficient biosensing platforms for cardiac biomarker detection is essential to address the alarmingly high CVD burden. Here, we summarize recent biosensing approaches for the detection of several biomarkers reported in the literature, including the biosensors construction, the materials used for the sensor surface, the detection method, such as electrochemical, chemiluminescent, colorimetric, or fluorescent, and signal amplification techniques. Finally, we review recently reported and commercially available multiplexed PoC systems for cardiac biomarker analysis, highlighting current trends and future directions in CVD diagnostics. The graphical abstract shows the main CVD-biomarker biosensing approaches.