Biomedical Applications of Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Spectroscopy

Abstract

Many efforts have been invested in the development of rapid and sensitive detection methods for the quantification of disease biomarkers in human blood. Although luminescence- and fluorescence-based detection methods, combined with an automatic sampling system, are routinely used for immunoassays of specific biomarkers, a more sensitive detection technique is needed to track disease progression in its early stage. Recently, a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based immunoassay technique has been considered as a strong candidate to resolve the problem of low sensitivity in conventional luminescence- or fluorescence-based clinical immunoassays. Due to its highly sensitive detection capability and the feasibility of automatic assay, the SERS-based assay technique has strong potential to substitute for currently available fluorescence or luminescence assay systems in clinical laboratory settings. To date, a variety of clinical biomarkers such as proteins, DNAs, hormones, viruses, bacteria, and toxins have been measured using the SERS-based assay technique. Several different types of assay platform have been developed for rapid and reproducible SERS-based assays. In this chapter, four different SERS-based assay platforms-gold-patterned microarray-type substrates, magnetic bead-based assay platforms, microfluidic devices, and lateral flow assay platforms-will be introduced. In addition, the diagnostic feasibility of these assay platforms for various biomarkers will be described. © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.