ABSTRACT
Proteins play essential roles in life activities. Deregulation of their activities has been associated with different kinds of diseases. Thus, effective, and sensitive protein analysis is urgently necessary for the field of biological electrochemistry and life sciences. Many sensor schemes based on different techniques have been reported to analyze protein activity, among them, electrochemical sensors play important roles. Bio-recognition and signal-transducing are two key factors in assembling electrochemical sensors because they influence the sensitivity and specificity greatly. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), transducer or recognition elements, become one of the most promising materials, ascribed to their high specific surface area, vast diversity of chemical functionalization, and metal-cation coordination properties. MOFs and MOF derivatives provide a number of possibilities for fabricating electrochemical sensing strategies for proteins analysis. This chapter mainly focuses on their roles in electrochemical sensors for different protein analyses. Firstly, MOFs and MOF derivatives are specifically designed as recognition elements to select the target proteins. Two main selective mechanisms will be carefully discussed. Secondly, the signal transducer and amplification mechanisms adjusted by MOFs and MOF derivatives in the protein detection process will be summarized. Finally, the major challenges and perspectives of MOF-based electrochemical sensors for protein detection will be discussed.
