Implementation of point of care (PoC) devices for miRNA detection in clinical oncology is urgently needed. Here, the main field of applications and the most promising biosensing platforms for sensitive miRNA detection are discussed. The need to establish multidisciplinary networks to boost biosensing technologies and bring them to the clinic to develop and spread PoC is also highlighted. The outlook is to improve the access to molecular diagnostics tools to all patients.
Abstract
Point-of-care (PoC) testing is revolutionizing the healthcare sector improving patient care in daily hospital practice and allowing reaching even remote geographical areas. In the frame of cancer management, the design and validation of PoC enabling the non-invasive, rapid detection of cancer markers is urgently required to implement liquid biopsy in clinical practice. Therefore, focusing on stable blood-based markers with high-specificity, such as microRNAs, is of crucial importance. In this work, we highlight the potential impact of circulating microRNAs detection on cancer management and the crucial role of PoC testing devices, especially for low-income countries. A detailed discussion about the challenges that should be faced to promote the technological transfer and clinical use of these tools has been added, to provide the readers with a complete overview of potentialities and current limitations.