Unique Raman Spectroscopic Fingerprints of B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: Implications for Diagnosis, Prognosis and New Therapies

Abstract

Raman spectroscopy is a non-invasive laser-based technique that identifies molecular chemical composition of tissues and cells. The objective of the work was to demonstrate that unique Raman spectroscopic fingerprints of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma cells could be distinguished from normal B-cells. Normal B-cells and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma cells were mounted on aluminum slides and analyzed by Raman spectroscopy using Asymmetric Least Squares and Principal Component Analysis. Clustering by Principal Component Analysis differentiated normal B-cells from B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma cells as well as between the different B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma cell types. Raman spectroscopy technology provided a different paradigm in analyzing tumor cells which could be used for diagnosis as well as contribute new information on unique characteristics of cancer cells to understand pathogenesis and potential novel treatments.