Spherical nucleic acids-based biosensors for cancer biomarkers detection

Spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) are three-dimensional and polyvalent nanostructures with highly oriented and densely arranged nucleic acids shell attached to the surface of nanomaterials cores. Owing to the versatile photophysical and chemical properties, unique programmability, specific recognition affinity, excellent biocompatibility and cellular uptake efficiency, SNAs have been utilized to engineer intelligent biosensors for in situ analysis and sensing intracellular cancer biomarkers. To afford a valuable and systematic guidance for cancer diagnosis with SNAs nanotechnology, we summarize recent advances and applications of SNAs-based biosensors for tracking and imaging cancer-related biomarkers, and discuss the future challenges and opportunities of SNAs for cancer diagnosis.