Research

Biosensor for Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer has a high morbidity rate since the disease is often neglected until the disease deteriorates to an untreatable stage. Epithelium ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most common form of ovarian cancer leading to the highest death rate in gynecological cancers. Cancer antigen 125 (CA 125) is the primarily used diagnostic biomarker for EOC, but the early diagnosis rate (diagnosed stage I) is low. So far, many methods including  chemiluminescence enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (CL-ELISA), fluorescence immunoassay, and chemiluminescent immunoassay have been used for CA 125 measurements. Sensitive detection of proteins is critical to many aspects of biomedical research and diagnostics, systems biology, and proteomics. The determination of tumor markers plays an important role in screening and diagnosis of cancer. In comparison with other immunological methods based on fluorescence, chemiluminescence, surface-plasmon resonance, or quartz crystal microbalance, electrochemical immunoassay has attracted considerable interest for its intrinsic advantages such as good portability, low cost, and high sensitivity. The electrochemical immunosensors have been widely applied to the determination of tumor markers.