Based on Serum Raman and Fluorescence Spectra to Diagnose Liver Cancer

Background: Raman and fluorescence spectra techniques are potential tools for disease diagnosis. In recent years, the application of Raman and fluorescence spectra techniques in biological studies has increased a great deal, and clinical investigations relevant to cancer detection by spectroscopic means have attracted particularly attention from both clinical and non-clinical researchers. Methods: In this article, Raman and fluorescence spectra were employed for the detection of liver cancer and healthy individuals using their serum samples. These serum samples were compared with their spectral features acquired by Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy to initially establish spectral features that can be considered spectral markers of liver cancer diagnosis. Resuits: The intensity differences from characteristic peaks of carotene, protein and lipid associated Raman spectra were clearly observed in liver cancer patient serum samples versus normal human serum. The changes in the serum fluorescence profiles of liver cancer patients were also analyzed. To probe the capacity and contrast of Raman spectroscopy as an analytical implement for the early diagnosis of liver cancer, principal component analysis (PCA) was used to analyze the Raman spectra of controls , liver cancer patients and healthy individuals. Furthermore, the Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) was performed to compare the diagnostic performance of Raman spectroscopy for the classification of disease samples and healthy samples.Conclusion: Compare with the existing diagnostic techniques, the Raman spectroscopy technique has an excellent advantage in extremely low sample requirements, ease of use and ideal screening procedures. Thus, Raman spectroscopy has great potential to be developed as a powerful tool for distinguishing between healthy and liver cancer serum samples.