Abstract
Ultrasensitive and accurate detection of tumor markers is of vital importance for the screening or diagnosis of cancers at their early stages and for monitoring cancer relapse after surgical resection. Inorganic lanthanide (Ln(3+)) nanoparticles (NPs), owing to their superior physicochemical characteristics, are regarded as a new generation of luminescent nano-bioprobes in the field of cancer diagnosis and therapy. In this progress report, a focus is set on our recent efforts on the development of inorganic Ln(3+)-NPs as efficient luminescent nano-bioprobes for the ultrasensitive in vitro biodetection of tumor markers, with an emphasis on the dissolution-enhanced luminescent bioassay (DELBA), an emerging technique recently developed toward practical medical applications.