Raman spectroscopy of fibroblast cells from a Huntington's disease patient

Abstract

We present a Raman spectroscopy case study of living fibroblast (skin) cells from a patient who developed Huntington's disease, with fibroblasts from a healthy volunteer as a control. Spectra were processed to remove cosmic rays, had a spectrum of the quartz substrate subtracted, and were flattened to remove cellular autofluorescence. We achieved an accuracy of 95% in discriminating individual cells, and assign spectral differences to (i) the reduction of cholesterol, (ii) the reduction of lipids, and (iii) an increase in beta-sheet proteins for fibroblasts with Huntington's disease. All these biochemical changes have been previously measured by other methods. Averages over all the cells in this study yield a difference which is extremely statistically significant [p < 0.0001]. ARTICLE HISTORY

Raman spectroscopy of brain and skin tissue in a minipig model of Huntington's disease

“…There is little similarity in chemical composition between brain and skin, or fibroblast cells from a previous Huntington's Raman study. 12…”

“…There is little similarity in chemical composition between brain and skin, or broblast cells from a previous Huntington's Raman study. 12 The difference spectrumthe WT spectrum subtracted from the HD spectrumshows clear features far greater than the noise level, in both brain (blue) and skin (green). The difference spectrum for each tissue type contains a mixture of positive peaks, for molecules more abundant in HD tissues, and negative peaks which imply a reduction of those molecules in HD tissues.…”

“…11 This suggests that the analysis of tissue and fluids far from the brain can be used to diagnose Huntington's disease. Raman spectroscopy has previously been applied to fibroblast cells from a patient with Huntington's disease 12 which separated cells into diseased and healthy controls with an accuracy of 95%. As these fibroblasts – connective tissue cells – are far from the brain, these results raise the hope that a more accessible part of the body than the brain could be analysed with Raman spectroscopy and provide an accurate diagnosis due to the presence of protein aggregates throughout the body in neurodegenerative diseases.…”

Review of optical methods for noninvasive imaging of skin fibroblasts—From in vitro to ex vivo and in vivo visualization

“…Changes in Raman spectra were also observed at 1450 and 1665 cm −1 that correspond to proteins and lipids [163]. A prediction data model for Huntington's disease diagnostics based on using Raman spectra of fibroblasts in skin provided the accuracy of this disease detection about 95% [164].…”

Serum Raman spectroscopy as a diagnostic tool in patients with Huntington's disease

“…28 RS may also be a useful diagnostic tool for Alzheimer's disease using patient serum. 22,29 In HD, RS has previously been used to study broblasts from patients, 30,31 although its potential to assess disease states or to provide a biomarker has never been explored.…”