Recent advances in electrochemical aptasensors for detecting cardiac biomarkers: A review

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) pose a serious threat to human life and health. The rapid diagnosis and evaluation of CVDs have become a vital topic in protecting life and health. Over the last decade, the concept of biosensors has opened a new field for the high-precision determination of cardiac biomarkers. In particular, electrochemical sensors have the advantages of simplicity, rapidity, sensitivity, and low cost. Aptamers are single-chain oligonucleotides with high affinity and specificity for binding targets discovered through in vitro screening. Electrochemical sensors based on aptamers demonstrate good analytical performance for the detection of cardiac biomarkers. Therefore, a growing number of researchers are committed to the development of electrochemical aptasensors for detecting cardiac biomarkers. Herein, this review first introduces some common cardiac biomarkers. Then, we summarize the detection strategies of electrochemical aptasensors for cardiac biomarkers such as cardiac troponin I (cTnI), myoglobin (MYO), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in recent years. Furthermore, we evaluate the structure type, detection range, and limit of detection (LOD) of these aptasensors. Finally, the present obstacles and prospects for electrochemical aptasensor development are highlighted.