Application of Metasurface-Enhanced Infra-Red Spectroscopy to Distinguishing Between Normal and Cancerous Cell Types

• Published in: Analyst (London) 2019-01, Vol.144 (4), p.1115-1127
• Main Authors: Kelp, G., Arju, N., Lee, A., Esquivel, E., Delgado, R., Yu, Y., Dutta-Gupta, S., Sokolov, K., Shvets, G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0003-2654; 1364-5528
• DOI: 10.1039/c8an01433g

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of biological cells can reveal clinically important information about cells’ composition, including their normal or cancerous status. The recently emerged diagnostic technique of spectral cytopathology (SCP) combines FTIR with multivariate statistical analysis to detect cell abnormalities, differentiate between cell types, and monitor desease progression. We demonstrate a new variant of SCP, a metasurface-enhaced infrared reflection spectroscopic cytopathology (MEIRSC), that utilises judiciously designed plasmonic metasurfaces to localize and enhance the evanescent field near the cell’s membrane, and to carry out spectroscopic interrogations of the cells attached to the metasurface using reflected infrared light. Our findings indicate that the MEIRSC approach enables us to differentiate between normal and cancerous human colon cells. The sensitivity of MEIRSC is such that a very small (about 50 nm deep) portion of the cell can yield valuable diagnostic information. Metasurface-enhanced infrared reflection spectroscopic cytopathology (MEIRSC) is used for label-free distinguishing between normal and cancerous colon cell lines.