Current methods for the detection of glypican-3

Abstract

Glypican-3 (GPC3) is a heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) that binds to the cell membrane via glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI), widely expressed in human embryos, and is undetectable in healthy adult liver but overexpressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Therefore, accurate and sensitive detection of GPC3 is critical for disease diagnosis. In recent years, a series of methods have been developed for the highly sensitive detection of GPC3, but there is a lack of reviews on recent advances in GPC3-related assays. In this review, we provide the recent advances in GPC3 detection and GPC3 concentration detection, mainly in terms of various optical sensor-based assays and electrochemical assays, and also provide new insights into the challenges and future directions of the field.