TUMOR DIAGNOSTICS BY VIBRATIONAL SPECTROSCOPY

本子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的众多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能已经从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是中心的，不一定是研究者的机构。我们的总体目标是使振动光谱学应用于癌症诊断和治疗监测。在早期阶段发现癌症是至关重要的，因为它大大提高了成功治疗的可能性。传统的诊断方法依赖于物理切除部分组织和显微形态评估。组织去除的需要减少了可以取样的组织面积。一种非侵入性技术可以消除这个问题。此外，一种非侵入性技术有可能使治疗在用于诊断的内镜过程中开始，并减少与组织切除相关的其他并发症，如组织处理和增加患者感染的风险。我们将专注于发展拉曼光谱来检测巴雷特食管患者的癌前病变。Barrett食管是一种鳞状上皮内膜被特化上皮所取代的病理，腺癌的可能性增加。由于不典型增生的显微镜变化很难观察到，因此应对化生上皮的整个区域进行取样。因此，Barrett食管是一种非常适合的无创诊断技术。本建议中发展的方法和技术也可以应用于其他组织，如子宫颈。我们工作的第二个目标是发展拉曼光谱作为评估治疗效果的方法。目前监测单个肿瘤对治疗反应的方法是不可靠的，而且在治疗过程中往往难以实施。开发无创或微创光学方法来可靠地识别细胞凋亡和坏死区域，将为分析每个癌症患者的肿瘤反应提供一种简单的方法。因此，治疗方法可以定制。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Our general objective is to enable the application of vibrational spectroscopy to cancer diagnosis and treatment monitoring. The detection of cancer at its earliest stages is crucial, for it greatly improves the likelihood of successful treatment. Traditional methods of diagnosis have relied on physical removal of a portion of tissue and microscopic assessment of morphology. The need for tissue removal reduces the area of tissue that can be sampled. A noninvasive technique would eliminate this problem. Furthermore, a noninvasive technique has the potential to allow treatment to begin during the same endoscopic procedure used for diagnosis and reduce other complications associated with tissue removal such as tissue handling and increased risk of infection to the patient. We will focus on developing Raman spectroscopy for detection of precancerous conditions in patients with Barrett's esophagus. Barrett's esophagus is a pathology in which the squamous epithelial lining is replaced by a specialized metaplastic epithelium and the likelihood of adenocarcinoma is increased. Because the microscopic changes of dysplasia are difficult to observe, the entire area of metaplastic epithelium should be sampled. Therefore, Barrett's esophagus is well-suited for a noninvasive diagnostic technique. The methods and techniques developed in this proposal may also find application in other tissues such as the cervix. The second goal of our work is to develop Raman spectroscopy as a method for assessing the effects of treatment. Current methods for monitoring the response of an individual tumor to therapy are unreliable and often difficult to implement during the course of therapy. Development of noninvasive or minimally-invasive optical methods to reliably identify regions of apoptosis and necrosis would provide a simple method for assaying tumor response in each individual cancer patient. Consequently, treatments could be customized.