SERS-Based Optical Nanobiosensors for the Detection of Alzheimer's Disease

Biosensors (Basel). 2023 Sep 11;13(9):880. doi: 10.3390/bios13090880.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a leading cause of dementia, impacting millions worldwide. However, its complex neuropathologic features and heterogeneous pathophysiology present significant challenges for diagnosis and treatment. To address the urgent need for early AD diagnosis, this review focuses on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based biosensors, leveraging the excellent optical properties of nanomaterials to enhance detection performance. These highly sensitive and noninvasive biosensors offer opportunities for biomarker-driven clinical diagnostics and precision medicine. The review highlights various types of SERS-based biosensors targeting AD biomarkers, discussing their potential applications and contributions to AD diagnosis. Specific details about nanomaterials and targeted AD biomarkers are provided. Furthermore, the future research directions and challenges for improving AD marker detection using SERS sensors are outlined.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; SERS; biosensor; disease diagnosis; fluid biomarkers; nanoparticles.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease* / diagnosis
  • Humans
  • Nanostructures*
  • Precision Medicine

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82101479) to Z.-H.W. and National Key Research Projects of China (No. 2021YFA1302400) to Z.-H.W.