A review of applications of Raman spectroscopy in immunology

Abstract

Vibrational spectroscopic techniques have recently gained increasing clinical importance as non-invasive, rapid and inexpensive methods to obtain information on the content of biological samples. For some time Raman spectroscopy has been involved in preclinical applications, mainly in the cancer space, with evolving applications towards new horizons in the dermatology and companion diagnostics arena. It is attractive as an analytical technique due to its exquisite sensitivity, labelfree operation and low water detectivity such that in-vivo applications are possible. In cytometry, Raman spectroscopy has been applied to the analysis of single cells providing a label-free alternative to cell classification approaches in the laboratory. In this review we collate in-vitro, ex-vivo and in-vivo examples of research using Raman spectroscopy for the detection, quantification and analysis of immune signaling at the cellular level. While cancer biology has recently focussed on the role of immunological signals in the development of the disease, it is timely to examine these applications as research in this space evolves.

Advances in tissues and cells characterization by Raman micro‐spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and tip‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy

“…Raman micro‐spectroscopy has been used as a highly sensitive and promising analytical technique in several fields of research, such as biomedical studies of a single‐cell and tissue level, [ 26,27 ] immunology, [ 28 ] infectious diseases, [ 29 ] regenerative medicine, [ 30 ] drug delivery, [ 31 ] cancer diagnosis and monitoring of the progression of the disease, [ 32,33 ] and cardiovascular diseases. [ 34,35 ] Furthermore, Bērziš et al [ 36 ] has recently summarized some applications of Raman in the pharmaceutical field.…”

“…A notch filter (optical density >6) removes the straight light being almost transparent to the inelastic photons, which will be dispersed by the spectrometer gratting and recorded by a CCD detector in the Raman spectrometer. [25] Raman micro-spectroscopy has been used as a highly sensitive and promising analytical technique in several fields of research, such as biomedical studies of a single-cell and tissue level, [26,27] immunology, [28] infectious diseases, [29] regenerative medicine, [30] drug delivery, [31] cancer diagnosis and monitoring of the progression of the disease, [32,33] and cardiovascular diseases. [34,35] Furthermore, B erziš et al [36] has recently summarized some applications of Raman in the pharmaceutical field.…”

High-throughput Raman spectroscopy allows ex vivo characterization of murine small intestinal intra-epithelial lymphocytes (IEL)

“…6 For the application of Raman spectroscopy in the field of immunology, important progress has been reported. 7 Raman spectroscopy has successfully been applied to identify and differentiate major leukocyte subpopulations, 5,8 human granulocytes, 9,10 lymphocyte subtypes, such as B and T cells 11 or different lymphocyte cell lines, 12 as well as further subtypes such as CD4 + T cells, CD8 + T cells and CD56 + Natural Killer cells. 13 Targeted activation of immune cells is reflected in the Raman spectra, as was demonstrated after in vitro cell stimulation with pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPS), 14,15 with whole pathogens, 16,17 as well as after in vivo stimulation using an endotoxemic mouse model.…”

European Conference on the Spectroscopy of Biological Molecules – Dublin 2019

“…This has included publishing the proceedings from the conference, especially publishing articles from keynote/plenary speakers. The current issue of the journal includes several articles that have been presented at the 18th ECSBM conference [2][3][4][5][6]. This includes a review article by Klaus Gerwert, an IOS Press sponsored invited speaker at the conference in Dublin.…”