SERS Detection of Breast Cancer‐Derived Exosomes Using a Nanostructured Pt‐Black Template

Abstract At present, there are no cancer treatments that are both non‐invasive and highly accurate. New tests that can diagnose cancer at an early stage would help to facilitate such improved therapies, and many recent studies have focused on the development of liquid biopsy tests for this purpose. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles secreted by cells as a means of communication that can be simply collected from blood samples. Current studies have shown the potential of surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) in differentiating cancerous cells from healthy cells. Herein, a bespoke platinum‐black (Pt‐black) SERS template is developed—via a cost‐effective fabrication method of electroplating—to detect malfunctioned (cancerous) exosomes. The results demonstrate that the Pt‐black SERS substrate exhibits stable and consistent spectra, which produces the high reproducibility required for a reliable diagnostic template. More importantly, using the Pt‐black SERS template allows for the differentiation of cancer‐derived exosomes (extracted from 4T1 cells—a triple‐negative breast cancer cell line) and exosomes from healthy fibroblast cells with an 83.3% sensitivity and a 95.8% specificity. This study establishes the potential of the Pt‐black template in detecting cancerous exosomes and lays a solid foundation for future studies in the clinical application of SERS in cancer diagnosis.