Micro-Raman spectroscopy study of cancerous and normal nasopharyngeal tissues

The capabilities of micro-Raman spectroscopy for differentiating normal and malignant nasopharyngeal tissues were evaluated. Raman scattering signals were acquired from 22 normal and 52 malignant nasopharyngeal tissue samples. Distinctive spectral differences in Raman spectra between normal and malignant nasopharyngeal tissues were found, particularly in the spectral ranges of 853, 937, 1094, 1209, 1268, 1290 to 1340, 1579, and 1660 cm-1, which primarily contain signals related to proteins, DNA, and lipids. Compared to normal tissues, the band intensity located at 853, and 937 cm-1 were significantly lower for cancerous tissues (p<0.05), while the band intensity located at 1094, 1209, 1268, and 1579 cm-1 were significantly higher (p<0.05). The band intensity located at 1290 to 1340, and 1660 cm-1 were also higher for cancerous tissues; but the differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminate analysis (LDA) were employed to generate diagnostic algorithms for classification of Raman spectra of the two nasopharyngeal tissue types. The PCA-LDA algorithms together with leave-one-out, cross-validation technique yielded diagnostic sensitivity of 92% and specificity of 82%. This work demonstrated that the Raman spectroscopy technique associated with PCA-LDA diagnostic algorithms has potential for improving the diagnosis of nasopharyngeal cancers.