Label-free liquid biopsy based on blood circulating DNA detection using SERS-based nanotechnology for nasopharyngeal cancer screening

Development of a sensitive, rapid and easy-to-use liquid biopsy method is of imperative clinical value for point-of-care caner diagnostics. Here, a label-free and modification-free nanotechnology based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) was employed for DNA analysis. Using the SERS signals of phosphate backbone as internal standard, quantitative detection for nucleobases was achieved even at single base level. The method combined with principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis was further applied for real blood circulating DNA detection for the first time, and an ideal diagnostic sensitivity of 83.3% and specificity of 82.5% could be obtained for differentiating the nasopharyngeal cancer from the normal group, demonstrating promising potential as an alternative nanotechnology for nasopharyngeal cancer screening based on liquid biopsy.