Colorectal cancer (CRC) has become a major area of clinical research as it is now the third most common cancer worldwide. CRC detection via presence of serum carcinoembryonic antigen generates a disproportionate number of false positives due to the lack of specificity of the antigen to CRC and lack of sensitivity of the test to early stage CRC detection. Symptoms of CRC are non-specific, making clinical diagnosis difficult until late stages at which point aggressive treatment is required with reduced probabilities of survival. To improve prognosis, a rapid, specific, non-invasive method is needed for earlier detection of CRC. Drop coat deposition Raman spectroscopy (DCDRS) has recently recorded differences in blood plasma composition between patients with stage III or IV CRC and healthy patients (Li et al, 2015 J Biomed Opt 20(3): 037004). Our experimental model is expanding on this work by comparing DCDR spectra of blood plasma from CRC patients to that of prostate cancer, lung cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, renal cell carcinoma patients. Diluting blood plasma before drop coat deposition improves the chromatographic separation of solutes facilitated by the coffee ring effect. Multivariate curve resolution alternating least squares analysis of Raman spectral maps allows component mapping and white light image overlaying to visualize the spatial distribution of the plasma constituents across the plasma residues separated via drop coat deposition. These results complement existing evidence suggesting DCDRS will be an effective CRC detection tool.

Harnessing drop coat deposition Raman spectroscopy for non-invasive cancer diagnosis

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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