title: Biosensor Techniques Used for Determination of Telomerase Activity in Cancer Cells.
abstract: Measuring telomerase activity has proven successful for the determination of cancer in malignant somatic cells. Early conventional methods for the detection of telomerase activity include in vitro analysis via a primer extension assay, and the telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay. TRAP incorporates the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) step to increase the sensitivity of a given sample. However, research suggests that the TRAP technique suffers from false negative results, caused by failure of its PCR step. Other limitations of TRAP include the post-PCR steps involving polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis which are time inefficient. Thus, various efforts have been made to eliminate the PCR step of TRAP by using a variety of biosensor detection devices. This review mainly focuses on these alternatives including: optical, electrochemical, magnetic, and nanowire conductive signaling techniques to measure the telomerase activity produced via label free biosensor assay-via biocatalytic labels involving beacons, DNAzyme, ferrocenyl-naphthalene diimides, avidin-alkaline phosphatase and semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). These biosensor techniques are sensitive and provide precise and rapid results in the detection of telomerase activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry & Biomolecular Science, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699-5810, USA. kullae@clarkson.edu.
authors.forename: Eliona
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kulla
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry & Biomolecular Science, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699-5810, USA.
authors.forename: Evgeny
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Katz
keywords: Biosensor; TRAP assay; biocatalytic labels; electrochemical detection; telomerase