BACKGROUND:Tumor markers are of great significance in early diagnosis of cancer, screening of high risk
group with cancer, differential diagnosis between benign and malignant tumors, judgment of cancer progression, evaluation of cancer therapeutic effect and prediction of cancer recurrence and prognosis.
OBJECTIVE:To realize the importance of tumor marker for cancer early diagnosis by introducing the working principle and clinical application of silicon nanowires biosensor in detecting tumor markers.
METHODS:The first author searched PubMed, CNKI and Google Scholar Databases to retrieve relevant articles about tumor marker, working principle and application of silicon nanowires biosensor published from 2003 to 2013. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Silicon nanowires biosensors with high sensitivity and without secondary marks show a good application prospect in detecting tumor markers. They have been used to detect tumor markers for prostate cancer, breast cancer, tumor markers of colorectal cancer, and primary liver cancer, and achieved an ideal limit of detection. However, due to the influence of debye length, most of detections can only be performed in the standard solution. There is a lack of the serum data of cancer patients.