Molecularly imprinted polymers based electrochemical sensors for biomarker detection in biofluids

Abstract

With the surging demand for personalized medicine and point‐of‐care testing (POCT) in the field of healthcare, there is an urgent need for highly sensitive and low‐cost methods to detect biomarkers in biofluids such as blood, sweat, and saliva. While biosensors serve as a popular method to detect various biomarkers based on fragile biological receptors such as antibodies and enzymes, these natural recognition elements often suffer from environmental instability and high production costs. Consequently, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), named as artificial antibody, demonstrate tremendous potential in electrochemical sensing due to their superior performance including high sensitivity, strong selectivity, customizability and low‐cost. However, the successful translation of these artificial receptors from laboratory settings into complex real‐world clinical biofluids remains significantly limited by matrix effects and severe biofouling. Based on recent achievements and challenges in MIP electrochemical sensors, this paper systematically reviews the evolution of MIP‐based electrochemical sensors, from traditional bulk polymerization to advanced Nano‐MIP strategies. Also, the recent progress in functional materials and the applications of the sensors across various bio‐fluids are comprehensively summarized. Furthermore, the specific requirements of different biofluid matrices and the challenges of anti‐biofouling are reviewed. Finally, prospects for AI‐assisted screening of MIP material and data analysis are discussed to provide theoretical insights for the development of next‐generation intelligent biosensing systems. Overall, this review aims to provide guidance for the optimization of the sensitivity, selectivity and future application of MIP electrochemical sensors as smart medical platforms for POCT.