Breast cancer diagnosis and dynamics of lipids by Raman imaging and femtosecond spectroscopy
Halina Abramczyk
Optical methods such as Raman spectroscopy, Raman imaging, Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR), femtosecond laser spectroscopy, fluorescence microscopy are new tools for chemical analysis of biological and biomedical samples. These new techniques are non-destructive and less expensive when compared with the immonostaining method for detection of specific proteins. Raman imaging belong to the most up-to-date and promising trends in medical diagnostics as an optical alternative to conventional biopsy. The Raman method is non-invasive, and it provides in situ real-time analysis of a pathological tissue, e.g. during routine physical examination. The most important feature of Raman spectra is that they act as very sensitive biochemical markers through the unique vibrational fingerprint spectra. Raman imaging is a novel method for research of medical diagnostics of human breast cancer and has a potential as an optical biopsy to replace the conventional biopsy [1-2].
The goal of the paper is to present Raman biomarkers for breast tissue cancer diagnosis that would have the ability to accurately characterize breast cancer tissue and distinguish between normal, malignant and benign types. The second aim is to present the “optical biopsy” by Raman imaging for normal and malignant breast tissues of the same patient. The presented paper involves recent results based on 150 patients by Raman spectroscopy and Raman imaging obtained so far by our group. The results prove that there is a high level of possibility for applying Raman imaging in the medicine as a diagnostic tool.
The results demonstrate that lipid molecules play a key role in activity of biological membranes and decide about the health-disease balance in breast tissue pathology. We report energy dynamics at the water/lipid interface. Femtosecond infrared (IR) two-color and bleaching pump-probe experiments were employed to investigate vibrational relaxation dynamics of C-H strech modes in the lipid alkyl chains of 2,3-Dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-1-phosphocholine (DPPC) and O-H stretch mode of water at the water/lipid interface for a controlled humidity of the sample.
References
- H. Abramczyk, J. Surmacki, B. Brożek-Płuska, Z. Morawiec, M. Tazbir, The Hallmarks of Breast Cancer by Raman Spectroscopy, J. Mol.Struc. 924-926, 2009, 175-182
- H. Abramczyk, B. Brożek-Płuska, K.Kurczewski, Z. Morawiec, M.Tazbir, Breast tissue Diagnostics by Raman Spectroscopy, J. Mol. Liquids, 2008, 141,145-148