TUMOR DIAGNOSTICS BY VIBRATIONAL SPECTROSCOPY

这个子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供的资源的许多研究子项目之一。子项目和调查员(PI)可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可能会出现在其他CRISE条目中。列出的机构是针对中心的，而不一定是针对调查员的机构。我们的总体目标是使振动光谱学能够应用于癌症诊断和治疗监测。癌症的早期发现是至关重要的，因为它极大地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镜下的形态评估。去除组织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，非侵入性技术有可能使治疗开始于用于诊断的相同内窥镜程序，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的感染风险。我们将专注于开发拉曼光谱来检测Barrett‘s食道患者的癌前状态。Barrett‘s食道是一种病理，鳞状上皮衬里被特殊的化生上皮取代，腺癌的可能性增加。由于异型增生的微观变化难以观察，因此应对整个化生上皮区进行取样。因此，Barrett‘s食道非常适合于非侵入性诊断技术。在这项建议中开发的方法和技术也可能在其他组织中得到应用，如宫颈。我们工作的第二个目标是发展拉曼光谱作为一种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，而且往往难以在治疗过程中实施。发展非侵入性或微侵入性的光学方法来可靠地识别凋亡和坏死区，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，治疗可以定制化。

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.