Diagnosing COVID-19 in human serum using Raman spectroscopy

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Spectroscopy
• Diagnostic Technologies
• Infectious Disease Research

Background:

• Accurate and rapid COVID-19 diagnosis is crucial for public health management.
• Current diagnostic methods like RT-PCR RNA and ELISA have limitations in speed or cost.
• Exploring novel, label-free techniques for COVID-19 detection is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential of Raman spectroscopy for diagnosing COVID-19 using blood serum.
• To identify spectral differences in blood serum between COVID-19 positive and negative individuals.
• To evaluate the diagnostic performance of Raman spectroscopy compared to RT-PCR.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of blood serum samples from 10 COVID-19 positive and 10 negative patients (confirmed by RT-PCR RNA and ELISA).
• Acquisition of Raman spectra using a dispersive Raman spectrometer (830 nm, 350 mW).
• Application of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and discriminant analysis (PCA-DA, PLS-DA) for spectral analysis and classification.

Main Results:

• Raman spectra revealed biochemical alterations in COVID-19 positive serum, including decreased proteins and amino acids (tryptophan).
• Increased levels of lipids, nitrogen compounds (urea, amines/amides), and nucleic acids were observed in COVID-19 positive samples.
• Discriminant analysis achieved 87% sensitivity and 100% specificity in classifying COVID-19 positive spectra.

Conclusions:

• Raman spectroscopy can differentiate between COVID-19 positive and negative blood serum based on biochemical profiles.
• The technique demonstrates high diagnostic accuracy, comparable to RT-PCR.
• Raman spectroscopy presents a promising rapid, label-free, and cost-effective approach for COVID-19 diagnosis.