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Identification and assessment of pulmonary Cryptococcus neoformans infection by blood serum surface-enhanced Raman
Shanshan Zhu1, Yanjian Li2, Han Gao3
1Research Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China; College of Medicine and Biological Information Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110169, China.
Abstract:
Cryptococcus neoformans (C. neoformans) is a causative agent for acute pulmonary infection, which can further develop to lethal meningoencephalitis if untreated. The meningoencephalitis infection can be prevented, if timely treatment on pulmonary cryptococcal infection can be implemented based on its early diagnosis and accurate assessment. In this study, blood serum surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) method was investigated on identification and assessment of pulmonary C. neoformans infection. The serum SERS measurements were collected from the mice infected with C. neoformans and the healthy mice, in which the infected mice were further divided into four subgroups according to the duration of infection. Based on those SRES measurements, biochemical differences were analyzed among those different groups to investigate the potential biomarkers for identifying and assessing the pulmonary C. neoformans infection. Furthermore, partial least square (PLS) analysis followed by linear discriminant analysis (LDA) model was employed to identify pulmonary cryptococcal infection and to assess the degrees of infection with the accuracies of 96.7% and 85.3%, respectively. Therefore, our study has demonstrated the great clinical potential of using serum SERS technique for an accurate identification and assessment of pulmonary cryptococcal infection.
Insights
This study shows surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) can accurately detect pulmonary Cryptococcus neoformans infection in mice. The SERS method aids in early diagnosis and assessment of cryptococcal infection severity.
Area of Science:
- Medical diagnostics
- Biochemistry
- Spectroscopy
Background:
- Pulmonary Cryptococcus neoformans infection can lead to fatal meningoencephalitis if not diagnosed and treated promptly.
- Early diagnosis and accurate assessment of pulmonary cryptococcal infection are crucial for effective treatment and prevention of severe outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential of blood serum surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for identifying and assessing pulmonary C. neoformans infection.
- To explore biochemical differences in serum SERS spectra for biomarker discovery related to C. neoformans infection.
Main Methods:
- Collected serum SERS measurements from mice infected with C. neoformans and healthy controls.
- Analyzed biochemical differences across infection durations.
- Applied partial least square (PLS) analysis and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) for classification and assessment.
Main Results:
- The PLS-LDA model achieved 96.7% accuracy in identifying pulmonary cryptococcal infection.
- The model demonstrated 85.3% accuracy in assessing the degree of infection.
- Identified potential serum biomarkers indicative of C. neoformans infection.
Conclusions:
- Serum SERS is a promising technique for accurate identification of pulmonary C. neoformans infection.
- The SERS method shows significant clinical potential for assessing the severity of cryptococcal infections.
