Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, MolSys Research Unit, University of Liège, Belgium.
Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, MolSys Research Unit, University of Liège, Belgium.
Talanta. 2024 Aug 15;276:126225. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2024.126225. Epub 2024 May 9.
This review focuses on the chemical design and the use of Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS)-active nanotags for measuring surface markers that can be overexpressed at the surface of single cancer cells. Indeed, providing analytical tools with true single-cell measurements capabilities is capital, especially since cancer research is increasingly leaning toward single-cell analysis, either to guide treatment decisions or to understand complex tumor behaviour including the single-cell heterogeneity and the appearance of treatment resistance. Over the past two decades, SERS nanotags have triggered significant interest in the scientific community owing their advantages over fluorescent tags, mainly because SERS nanotags resist photobleaching and exhibit sharper signal bands, which reduces possible spectral overlap and enables the discrimination between the SERS signals and the autofluorescence background from the sample itself. The extensive efforts invested in harnessing SERS nanotags for biomedical purposes, particularly in cancer research, highlight their potential as the next generation of optical labels for single-cell studies. The review unfolds in two main parts. The first part focuses on the structure of SERS nanotags, detailing their chemical composition and the role of each building block of the tags. The second part explores applications in measuring overexpressed surface markers on single-cells. The latter encompasses studies using single nanotags, multiplexed measurements, quantitative information extraction, monitoring treatment responses, and integrating phenotype measurements with SERS nanotags on single cells isolated from complex biological matrices. This comprehensive review anticipates SERS nanotags to persist as a pivotal technology in advancing single-cell analytical methods, particularly in the context of cancer research and personalized medicine.
这篇综述重点介绍了表面增强拉曼散射（SERS）活性纳米标签的化学设计及其在测量可在单个癌细胞表面过表达的表面标志物方面的应用。实际上，提供具有真正单细胞测量能力的分析工具至关重要，尤其是因为癌症研究越来越倾向于单细胞分析，无论是为了指导治疗决策，还是为了了解包括单细胞异质性和治疗耐药性出现在内的复杂肿瘤行为。在过去的二十年中，由于 SERS 纳米标签具有优于荧光标签的优势，因此在科学界引起了极大的兴趣，主要是因为 SERS 纳米标签可以抵抗光漂白，并且具有更尖锐的信号带，从而减少了可能的光谱重叠，并能够区分 SERS 信号和来自样品本身的自发荧光背景。人们为将 SERS 纳米标签应用于生物医学领域，特别是癌症研究，做出了广泛的努力，这突显了它们作为下一代用于单细胞研究的光学标签的潜力。这篇综述分为两大部分。第一部分重点介绍了 SERS 纳米标签的结构，详细说明了它们的化学成分和标签各组成部分的作用。第二部分探讨了在测量单个细胞上过表达的表面标志物方面的应用。后者包括使用单个纳米标签、多重测量、定量信息提取、监测治疗反应以及将表型测量与单个细胞中的 SERS 纳米标签集成到从复杂生物基质中分离的单个细胞中的研究。这篇全面的综述预计 SERS 纳米标签将作为推进单细胞分析方法的关键技术持续存在，特别是在癌症研究和个性化医疗的背景下。
