Detection of biomarkers has raised much interest recently due to the need for disease diagnosis and personalized medicine in future point-of-care systems. Among various biomarkers, antibodies are an important type of detection target due to their potential for indicating disease progression stage and the efficiency of therapeutic antibody drug treatment. In this review, electrochemical and optical detection of antibodies are discussed. Specifically, creating a non-label and reagent-free sensing platform and construction of an anti-fouling electrochemical surface for electrochemical detection are suggested. For optical transduction, a rapid and programmable platform for antibody detection using a DNA-based beacon is suggested as well as the use of bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) switch for low cost antibody detection. These sensing strategies have demonstrated their potential for resolving current challenges in antibody detection such as high selectivity, low operation cost, simple detection procedures, rapid detection, and low-fouling detection. This review provides a general update for recent developments in antibody detection strategies and potential solutions for future clinical point-of-care systems.
Keywords: antibody detection; biosensors; electrochemical detection; optical detection.