Non-invasive and label-free detection of oral squamous cell carcinoma using saliva surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and multivariate analysis

The work herein describes the application of silver nanoparticle (Ag-NP) based surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) of saliva and desquamated oral cells in the detection of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). A total of 180 SERS spectra were acquired from saliva and 120 SERS spectra from oral cells collected from normal healthy individuals and from confirmed oropharyngeal cancer patients and analyzed. A sensitivity of 89% and 68% and diagnostic accuracy of 73% and 60% were achieved for saliva and oral cells, respectively. This study demonstrates the potential for SERS in conjunction with PCA-LDA multivariate analysis for the non-invasive detection of oral cancer.106