International Journal of Nanomedicine (Apr 2020)
Filter-Membrane-Based Ultrafiltration Coupled with Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Potential Differentiation of Benign and Malignant Thyroid Tumors from Blood Plasma
Abstract
Xiaozhou Liang,1 Xuchao Miao,1 Weijin Xiao,2 Qin Ye,3 Sisi Wang,4 Juqiang Lin,1 Chao Li,2,5,6 Zufang Huang1 1Fujian Normal University, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Science and Technology for Medicine, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Photonics Technology, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Fujian Cancer Hospital, Fujian Medical University Cancer Hospital, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of General Surgery, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Pathology, Fujian Cancer Hospital, Fujian Medical University Cancer Hospital, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China; 6Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Cancer Medicine, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Zufang Huang Tel +86 591 834 65373Email [email protected]: The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance and feasibility of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy coupled with a filter membrane and advanced multivariate data analysis on identifying and differentiating benign and malignant thyroid tumors from blood plasma.Patients and Methods: We proposed a membrane filter SERS technology for the differentiation between benign thyroid tumor and thyroid cancer. That is to say, by using filter membranes with optimal pore size, the blood plasma samples from thyroid tumor patients were pretreated with the macromolecular proteins being filtered out prior to SERS measurement. The SERS spectra of blood plasma ultrafiltrate obtained using filter membranes from 102 patients with thyroid tumors (70 thyroid cancers and 32 benign thyroid tumors) were then analyzed and compared. Two multivariate statistical analyses, principal component analysis-linear discriminate analysis (PCA-LDA) and Lasso-partial least squares-discriminant analysis (Lasso-PLS-DA), were performed on the SERS spectral data after background subtraction and normalization, as well as the first derivative processing, to analyze and compare the differential diagnosis of benign thyroid tumors and thyroid cancer.Results: SERS measurements were performed in blood plasma acquired from a total of 102 thyroid tumor patients (benign thyroid tumor N=32; thyroid cancer N=70). By using filter membranes, the macromolecular proteins in blood plasma were effectively filtered out to yield high-quality SERS spectra. 84.3% discrimination accuracy between benign and malignant thyroid tumor was achieved using PCA-LDA method, while Lasso-PLS-DA yields a discrimination accuracy of 90.2%.Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that SERS spectroscopy, coupled with ultrafiltration and multivariate analysis has the potential of providing a non-invasive, rapid, and objective detection and differentiation of benign and malignant thyroid tumors.Keywords: surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, thyroid tumor, filter membrane, silver nanoparticles, blood plasma
