Serum Raman Spectroscopy – An exploratory study for detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, but our understanding of its pathophysiology is limited. COPD is a debilitating pathology distinguished by diminished pulmonary function and a rapid and persistent decline in overall well-being. Early diagnosis is critical in creating strategies for reducing risk factors and managing COPD consequences. The present study utilised Raman Spectroscopy (RS) to examine serum samples collected from three distinct male cohorts: healthy subjects, asymptomatic smokers, and patients diagnosed with COPD, with a sample size of 10 individuals per group. Given that biochemical alterations take place prior to morphological alterations, RS may be a useful technique for early diagnosis of any pathology. Spectral comparisons revealed a drop in lipid contents and an increase in protein content in the COPD group when compared to the healthy subjects (NR) and asymptomatic smokers (SN) thus showing the potential of RS to get insight into the disease state of COPD. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Principal Component-based Linear Discriminant Analysis (PC-LDA) revealed that the healthy group can be stratified from the COPD group with an 80 % accuracy, while the asymptomatic smokers’ group can be distinguished from the COPD group with 70 % accuracy. Multivariate Curve Resolution (MCR) analysis revealed significantly higher lipid component abundance in NR and SN groups, compared to COPD. Further investigation is warranted with well-characterized larger sample size to reduce the spectral misclassification. The results of the RS investigation have the potential to be useful in the early identification of COPD.