In recent years, the increasing incidence and mortality of cancer have inspired the development of accurate and rapid early diagnosis methods in order to successfully cure cancer; however, conventional methods used for detecting tumor cells, including histopathological and immunological methods, often involve complex operation processes, high analytical costs, and high false positive rates, in addition to requiring experienced personnel. With the rapid emergence of sensing techniques, electrochemical cytosensors have attracted wide attention in the field of tumor cell detection because of their advantages, such as their high sensitivity, simple equipment, and low cost. These cytosensors are not only able to differentiate tumor cells from normal cells, but can also allow targeted protein detection of tumor cells. In this review, the research achievements of various electrochemical cytosensors for tumor cell detection reported in the past five years are reviewed, including the structures, detection ranges, and detection limits of the cytosensors. Certain trends and prospects related to the electrochemical cytosensors are also discussed.
Keywords: biosensor; electrochemical; marker; probe; tumor cell.