Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) based electrochemical biosensors for early cancer diagnosis in vitro

Developing ultrasensitive and highly selective biosensors is significant for the early diagnosis of cancers and monitoring of the treatment process of cancer patients. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), as emerging porous crystalline materials, have received increased attention on account of their potential applications in many fields, such as energy, environment, storage, separation, and sensing. In light of their unique merits, such as large surface areas, tunable pore scales, and good adsorption capabilities, MOFs have been applied as sensitive platforms for anchoring diverse probes (e.g., antibodies, DNA, or aptamers) for the construction of electrochemical (EC) biosensors. Herein, we present a comprehensive overview of MOFs-based EC biosensors for detecting diverse targets (e.g., cancer markers, microRNA, and living cancer cells) that are considered as the indicators for early diagnosis of cancers. Different strategies for construction of EC biosensors with monometallic MOFs, bimetallic MOFs, luminophore-combined MOFs, and MOFs-based nanocomposites are reviewed. Further, the fabrication of MOFs-based EC biosensors toward specific analytes is described to promote and guide future studies on MOFs for biosensing applications.