Label free hepatitis B detection based on serum derivative surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy combined with...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Spectroscopy
• Diagnostic Technology
• Hepatitis Research

Background:

• Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global health concern, potentially leading to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
• Current diagnostic methods for HBV can be invasive or lack sufficient sensitivity for early detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for non-invasive detection of HBV in serum.
• To identify spectral differences between HBV patients and healthy controls using SERS.
• To assess the efficacy of derivative analysis and chemometrics in improving HBV diagnosis.

Main Methods:

• SERS measurements were performed on serum samples from 93 HBV patients and 94 healthy volunteers.
• Serum SERS spectra were analyzed for differences in biochemical compositions.
• First-order derivative analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were applied for spectral data analysis.

Main Results:

• Distinct differences in SERS spectra were observed between HBV patients and healthy controls.
• HBV patients showed altered levels of specific biomolecules including L-arginine, saccharides, phenylalanine, tyrosine, nucleic acid, valine, and hypoxanthine.
• The combination of first-order derivative SERS spectra with PCA-LDA achieved diagnostic sensitivity of 91.4% and specificity of 83%.

Conclusions:

• Derivative analysis enhances the classification of SERS spectra for improved diagnostic accuracy.
• First-order derivative serum SERS combined with PCA-LDA shows significant potential for non-invasive HBV detection.
• SERS offers a promising tool for early and accurate diagnosis of hepatitis B virus infection.