Shining a light on liver health: advancements in fluorescence-enhanced enzyme biosensors for early disease detection

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 19:12:1392857. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1392857. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Early detection of liver diseases holds paramount importance in optimizing treatment outcomes and prognosis, thereby significantly enhancing the likelihood of recovery while mitigating the risk of progression to liver cancer. Liver diseases encompass a spectrum of conditions, each potentially manifesting distinct enzymatic profiles. Monitoring these enzymes in situ facilitates timely intervention and therapeutic management. In recent years, the field of biosensor technology has witnessed remarkable advancement, owing to strides in biomedicine and computational sciences. Biosensors have garnered widespread utility across medical and biological domains, spanning the detection of disease biomarkers, drug release tracking, ion imaging, and fluorescence imaging within living organisms. These applications have markedly enhanced imaging resolution and have the potential to refine disease diagnosis accuracy for clinicians. A pivotal aspect in the successful application of this technology lies in the construction of fluorescence probes adept at swiftly and selectively identifying target enzymes by amalgamating liver disease enzymes with fluorescence probe technology. However, research in this niche area remains relatively scarce. Building upon this foundational understanding, the present review delineates the utilization of biosensors in the early diagnosis of liver disease. Serving as a theoretical framework, this review envisages the development of high-performance biosensors tailored for the early detection of liver cancer. Furthermore, it offers insights into the potential of biosensor technology to progress and broaden its practical applications, thus contributing to the advancement of diagnostic methodologies in liver disease management.

Keywords: biosensors; early diagnosis; enzymes; liver cancer; liver disease.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was financially supported by the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation General Project, China (ZR2021MH052).