Cortisol Immunosensors: A Literature Review

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is involved in a broad range of physiological processes in human/animal organisms. Cortisol levels in biological samples are a valuable biomarker, e.g., of stress and stress-related diseases; thus, cortisol determination in biological fluids, such as serum, saliva and urine, is of great clinical value. Although cortisol analysis can be performed with chromatography-based analytical techniques, such as liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), conventional immunoassays (radioimmunoassays (RIAs), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), etc.) are considered the “gold standard” analytical methodology for cortisol, due to their high sensitivity along with a series of practical advantages, such as low-cost instrumentation, an assay protocol that is fast and easy to perform, and high sample throughput. Especially in recent decades, research efforts have focused on the replacement of conventional immunoassays by cortisol immunosensors, which may offer further improvements in the field, such as real-time analysis at the point of care (e.g., continuous cortisol monitoring in sweat through wearable electrochemical sensors). In this review, most of the reported cortisol immunosensors, mainly electrochemical and also optical ones, are presented, focusing on their immunosensing/detection principles. Future prospects are also briefly discussed.