Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy of Skin Cancer Cells and Tissues

Abstract The aim of this review is to combine all the information related to the characterization of skin tissues and cells, focusing on the identification of the specific biochemical characteristics of skin cancer. We have characterized two types of melanoma by FTIR spectroscopy: a murine melanoma (B16F10 cell line) and a human melanoma (C8161 cell line). The cells were deposited on IR transparent CaF2 windows, the spectral range used lay between 900-4000 cm− 1, transmission mode with 2 cm− 1 resolution, and 32 scans. A biochemical association is presented for all the absorption bands identified in this study. Besides the characterization of both cell lines above, a collection of works done in the area of skin cancer was also carried out, in this review; some interesting results obtained by different authors with respect to the characterization of different samples (melanomas, follicle sheath, basal cell carcinoma, epidermis tissues, dermis tissue, and human stratum corneum) are presented and compared to the chemical and biological associations performed in each case. The identification of biochemical injuries provides important information that, associated with clinical examination, can assist the diagnosis of diseases. Several FTIR techniques can be used in the diagnosis of biochemical changes in biological tissues, by identifying molecular markers associated with malignant and benign changes or variations in the composition of amino acids in tissues and cells. In the near future, a further study to compare histopatological analysis and biochemical characterization by FTIR spectroscopy would be interesting, in order to verify the accuracy and validate the applicability of this technique in the diagnosis of skin lesions from a statistical viewpoint.