Lateral Flow Assays towards Point-of-Care Cancer Detection: A Review of Current Progress and Future Trends

Abstract Cancer is one of the main causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. However, its early non-invasive detection via quantification of appropriate biomarkers can significantly reduce mortality, enhance survival, and save treatment costs. Lateral flow test strips (LFTS) are nowadays considered as the most attractive point-of-care devices for healthcare applications. However, the quantification of cancer biomarkers in body fluids suffers from some challenges including i) the necessity for multiplex analysis, ii) the development of sensitive detection systems, iii) to overcome the analysis of complex samples, at the same time, it should keep the quality assurance criteria for an accurate and proper diagnostic. This review provides an overview of recent advances, the current challenges and available solutions in cancer biomarkers detection via LFTS focusing on the sensitivity enhancement by various detection systems. Then, the available LFTS kits in the market are presented and future trends in this area are foreseen.