Issue 3, 2018

Label-free Raman spectroscopy provides early determination and precise localization of breast cancer-colonized bone alterations

Abstract

Breast neoplasms frequently colonize bone and induce development of osteolytic bone lesions by disrupting the homeostasis of the bone microenvironment. This degenerative process can lead to bone pain and pathological bone fracture, a major cause of cancer morbidity and diminished quality of life, which is exacerbated by our limited ability to monitor early metastatic disease in bone and assess fracture risk. Spurred by its label-free, real-time nature and its exquisite molecular specificity, we employed spontaneous Raman spectroscopy to assess and quantify early metastasis driven biochemical alterations to bone composition. As early as two weeks after intracardiac inoculations of MDA-MB-435 breast cancer cells in NOD-SCID mice, Raman spectroscopic measurements in the femur and spine revealed consistent changes in carbonate substitution, overall mineralization as well as crystallinity increase in tumor-bearing bones when compared with their normal counterparts. Our observations reveal the possibility of early stage detection of biochemical changes in the tumor-bearing bones – significantly before morphological variations are captured through radiographic diagnosis. This study paves the way for a better molecular understanding of altered bone remodeling in such metastatic niches, and for further clinical studies with the goal of establishing a non-invasive tool for early metastasis detection and prediction of pathological fracture risk in breast cancer.

Graphical abstract: Label-free Raman spectroscopy provides early determination and precise localization of breast cancer-colonized bone alterations

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
02 Jul 2017
Accepted
14 Nov 2017
First published
15 Nov 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2018,9, 743-753

Label-free Raman spectroscopy provides early determination and precise localization of breast cancer-colonized bone alterations

C. Zhang, P. T. Winnard Jr, S. Dasari, Scott L. Kominsky, M. Doucet, S. Jayaraman, V. Raman and I. Barman, Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 743 DOI: 10.1039/C7SC02905E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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