High-Precision Detection of Cellular Drug Response Based on SERS Spectrum and Multivariate Statistical Analysis

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Analytical Chemistry
• Oncology

Background:

• Personalized medicine requires precise control over drug dosage and cellular responses for improved patient outcomes.
• The cell-counting kit-8 (CCK8) assay has limitations in accuracy for detecting cellular drug responses.
• Accurate monitoring of chemotherapeutic drug efficacy is crucial for cancer treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a more accurate method for evaluating anticancer drug concentration and cellular response compared to CCK8.
• To investigate the potential of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) using cell-secreted proteins for this purpose.
• To assess the cisplatin response in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines.

Main Methods:

• Utilized surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to analyze cell-secreted proteins.
• Employed principal component analysis-linear discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA) with SERS spectra.
• Evaluated cisplatin response in CNE1 and NP69 nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines.
• Verified SERS results using mass spectrometry analysis of secreted proteins.

Main Results:

• The SERS method combined with PCA-LDA detected cisplatin concentration differences as low as 1 μg/mL, surpassing CCK8 accuracy.
• A strong correlation was observed between SERS spectral peak intensity of secreted proteins and cisplatin concentration.
• Mass spectrometry confirmed the findings derived from SERS analysis of secreted proteins.

Conclusions:

• SERS analysis of cell-secreted proteins provides a highly sensitive and accurate method for detecting chemotherapeutic drug responses.
• This technique holds significant potential for advancing personalized medicine and cancer treatment monitoring.
• SERS offers a superior alternative to conventional methods like CCK8 for evaluating drug efficacy at the cellular level.