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Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Health and Medicine

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Analytical Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 13389

Special Issue Editors

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA
Interests: surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy; plasmonics; synthesis of plasmonic nanoparticles; medical diagnostics; sensing; photocatalysis
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28223, USA
Interests: plasmonics; biosensing; molecular imaging; Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy; nanoscale interface engineering; single-particle spectroscopy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last forty years, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has grown from being a spectroscopic technique of interest to physicists and physical chemists to becoming an important tool in a wide variety of disciplines, including forensics, bioengineering, and medicine. With respect to the latter, recent reports have shown that SERS can aid in detecting tumour margins during surgery, identifying disease biomarkers in liquid biopsy, and stratifying patients by complementing immunohistochemistry and histopathology. While this progress is promising, for SERS to reach widespread applicability it is necessary to not only delineate the scientific boundaries in which it is truly superior, but also to systematically understand how to improve identification in systems and matrices that are far from ideal. The purpose of this Special Issue is to bring together an organized body of work that hinges on SERS-based molecular detection but focuses on important molecular targets (e.g., disease biomarkers, drug metabolites, reaction intermediates), on approaches that improve sensitivity and selectivity in extremely complex matrices (e.g., biological fluids, art work), or on methods and protocols that achieve high sensitivity employing low-cost portable spectrometers available in non-research intensive settings (e.g., forensic labs, clinical labs). Contributions in the form of original research are accepted, and reports integrating molecular detection and machine learning are especially welcome.

Prof. Dr. Laura Fabris
Assit. Prof. Dr. Swarnapali Indrasekara
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Biocompatible nanostructures for SERS
  • Biomarker detection
  • Liquid Biopsy
  • Drug Monitoring
  • Oligonucleotides, proteins, small molecule metabolites
  • SERS-based Devices
  • Microfluidics
  • Lateral flow assays
  • Toxicology
  • Global Health
  • Chemical imaging of cells/tissues
  • Molecular analysis of live cells and tissues
  • Machine learning

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1805 KiB  
Article
Effect of Cetuximab-Conjugated Gold Nanoparticles on the Cytotoxicity and Phenotypic Evolution of Colorectal Cancer Cells
by Ralph El Hallal, Nana Lyu and Yuling Wang
Molecules 2021, 26(3), 567; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26030567 - 22 Jan 2021
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 3269
Abstract
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is estimated to be overexpressed in 60~80% of colorectal cancer (CRC), which is associated with a poor prognosis. Anti-EGFR targeted monoclonal antibodies (cetuximab and panitumumab) have played an important role in the treatment of metastatic CRC. However, the [...] Read more.
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is estimated to be overexpressed in 60~80% of colorectal cancer (CRC), which is associated with a poor prognosis. Anti-EGFR targeted monoclonal antibodies (cetuximab and panitumumab) have played an important role in the treatment of metastatic CRC. However, the therapeutic response of anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies is limited due to multiple resistance mechanisms. With the discovery of new functions for gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), we hypothesize that cetuximab-conjugated AuNPs (cetuximab-AuNPs) will not only improve the cytotoxicity for cancer cells, but also introduce expression change of the related biomarkers on cancer cell surface. In this contribution, we investigated the size-dependent cytotoxicity of cetuximab-AuNPs to CRC cell line (HT-29), while also monitored the expression of cell surface biomarkers in response to treatment with cetuximab and cetuximab-AuNPs. AuNPs with the size of 60 nm showed the highest impact for cell cytotoxicity, which was tested by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. Three cell surface biomarkers including epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM), and human epidermal growth factor receptor-3 (HER-3) were found to be expressed at higher heterogeneity when cetuximab was conjugated to AuNPs. Both surface-enhanced Raman scattering/spectroscopy (SERS) and flow cytometry demonstrated the correlation of cell surface biomarkers in response to the drug treatment. We thus believe this study provides powerful potential for drug-conjugated AuNPs to enhance cancer prognosis and therapy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Health and Medicine)
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9 pages, 2496 KiB  
Article
Designing the Hotspots Distribution by Anisotropic Growth
by Tianshun Li, Renxian Gao, Xiaolong Zhang and Yongjun Zhang
Molecules 2021, 26(1), 187; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26010187 - 02 Jan 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1865
Abstract
Changing the morphology of noble metal nanoparticles and polarization dependence of nanoparticles with different morphologies is an important part of further research on surface plasma enhancement. Therefore, we used the method based on Matlab simulation to provide a simple and effective method for [...] Read more.
Changing the morphology of noble metal nanoparticles and polarization dependence of nanoparticles with different morphologies is an important part of further research on surface plasma enhancement. Therefore, we used the method based on Matlab simulation to provide a simple and effective method for preparing the morphologies of Au nanoparticles with different morphologies, and prepared the structure of Au nanoparticles with good uniformity and different morphologies by oblique angle deposition (OAD) technology. The change of the surface morphology of nanoparticles from spherical to square to diamond can be effectively controlled by changing the deposition angle. The finite difference time domain (FDTD) method was used to simulate the electromagnetic fields of Au nanoparticles with different morphologies to explore the polarization dependence of nanoparticles with different shapes, which was in good agreement with Raman spectrum. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Health and Medicine)
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14 pages, 3504 KiB  
Article
Patterned Superhydrophobic SERS Substrates for Sample Pre-Concentration and Demonstration of Its Utility through Monitoring of Inhibitory Effects of Paraoxon and Carbaryl on AChE
by Umi Yamaguchi, Maki Ogawa and Hiroyuki Takei
Molecules 2020, 25(9), 2223; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules25092223 - 08 May 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2591
Abstract
We describe a patterned surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate with the ability to pre-concentrate target molecules. A surface-adsorbed nanosphere monolayer can serve two different functions. First, it can be made into a SERS platform when covered by silver. Alternatively, it can be fashioned [...] Read more.
We describe a patterned surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate with the ability to pre-concentrate target molecules. A surface-adsorbed nanosphere monolayer can serve two different functions. First, it can be made into a SERS platform when covered by silver. Alternatively, it can be fashioned into a superhydrophobic surface when coated with a hydrophobic molecular species such as decyltrimethoxy silane (DCTMS). Thus, if silver is patterned onto a latter type of substrate, a SERS spot surrounded by a superhydrophobic surface can be prepared. When an aqueous sample is placed on it and allowed to dry, target molecules in the sample become pre-concentrated. We demonstrate the utility of the patterned SERS substrate by evaluating the effects of inhibitors to acetylcholinesterase (AChE). AChE is a popular target for drugs and pesticides because it plays a critical role in nerve signal transduction. We monitored the enzymatic activity of AChE through the SERS spectrum of thiocholine (TC), the end product from acetylthiocholine (ATC). Inhibitory effects of paraoxon and carbaryl on AChE were evaluated from the TC peak intensity. We show that the patterned SERS substrate can reduce both the necessary volumes and concentrations of the enzyme and substrate by a few orders of magnitude in comparison to a non-patterned SERS substrate and the conventional colorimetric method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Health and Medicine)
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Review

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22 pages, 5390 KiB  
Review
Extracellular Vesicle Identification Using Label-Free Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy: Detection and Signal Analysis Strategies
by Hyunku Shin, Dongkwon Seo and Yeonho Choi
Molecules 2020, 25(21), 5209; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules25215209 - 09 Nov 2020
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 5098
Abstract
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been widely investigated as promising biomarkers for the liquid biopsy of diseases, owing to their countless roles in biological systems. Furthermore, with the notable progress of exosome research, the use of label-free surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to identify and [...] Read more.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been widely investigated as promising biomarkers for the liquid biopsy of diseases, owing to their countless roles in biological systems. Furthermore, with the notable progress of exosome research, the use of label-free surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to identify and distinguish disease-related EVs has emerged. Even in the absence of specific markers for disease-related EVs, label-free SERS enables the identification of unique patterns of disease-related EVs through their molecular fingerprints. In this review, we describe label-free SERS approaches for disease-related EV pattern identification in terms of substrate design and signal analysis strategies. We first describe the general characteristics of EVs and their SERS signals. We then present recent works on applied plasmonic nanostructures to sensitively detect EVs and notable methods to interpret complex spectral data. This review also discusses current challenges and future prospects of label-free SERS-based disease-related EV pattern identification. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Health and Medicine)
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