Table 1.

DNA-based nanosensors designed for the detection of biomarkers in biological fluids and in living cells

DNA Nanostructure	Biomarker	Detection Limit	Signal	Target Disease	Testing Conditions	References
DNA tetrahedron	Hydrogen ions and superoxide anion (O2•−)	7.2 nM for O2•−	fluorescence	inflammation, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer	living cells	[122]
	TK1 mRNA	3.2 nM; 0.33 nM	fluorescence	cancer	living cells	[130,131]
	TK1 mRNA, GalNac-T mRNA, C-myc mRNA	3.1 nM for C-myc mRNA; 1.2 nM for TK1 mRNA; 3.2 nM for GalNAc-T mRNA	fluorescence	cancer	living cells	[132]
	TK1 mRNA	3.3 pM	fluorescence	cancer	living cells	[133]
	miRNA-21	0.03 fmol/10 μgRNA for CD; 0.12 fmol/10 μgRNA for luminescence	plasmonic circular dichroism (CD); luminescence	cancer	living cells	[134]
	BRCA1 DNA	10 fM	colorimetric	breast cancer	fetal calf serum	[136]
	HIV-related DNA	48 fM	surface plasmon resonance	acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)	C57 wild type mice tail total DNA	[135]
	miRNA21; miRNA155; miRNA196a; miRNA210	10 fM	electrochemical	cancer	human serum samples	[137]
	miRNA (hsa-let-7a)	50 aM	electrochemical	asthma	cell lysates and fetal bovine serum	[138]
	DNA methyltransferase	0.045 U mL–1	fluorescence	cancer	human serum	[139]
	DNA methyltransferase	0.03 U mL–1	electrochemical	cancer	human serum	[143]
	Pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) peptide	0.218 ng mL−1	electrochemical	pneumonia	human samples from nasal cavity, mouth and axilla	[145]
	Tumoral hepatocellular exosomes	2.09 × 104 mL	electrochemical	cancer	isolated HepG2 hepatocelular exosomes	[145]
	Tumor cells	4 MCF-7 cancer cells	electrochemical	cancer	cell culture medium	[146]
DNA prism	ATP	0.03 mM	fluorescence (FRET)	hypoxia, ischemia, Parkison’s disease, some malignant cancers	living cells	[124]
DNA tweezer	miRNA-21	0.03 fM	electrochemiluminescence	cancer	living cells	[147]
DNA hydrogels	Tumor cells	<10 cancer cells	fluorescence	cancer	living cells	[148]
DNA origami	Zika-specific artificial DNA and RNA	-	fluorescence	zika infection	human blood serum	[149]
	Plasmodium falciparum lactate dehydrogenase (PfLDH)	500 nM	AFM	malaria	blood plasma	[150]
	Hepatitis B genotyping	10 pM	AFM	viral hepatitis	clinical hepatitis B virus DNA samples	[151,152]