Fabrication of SERS active Langmuir–Blodgett Film substrate for screening human cancer cell lines: Experimental observations supported by multivariate data analyses

Abstract

This paper reports fabrication of efficient and reproducible Surface Enhance Raman Scattering active substrate through integration of self-assembly and Langmuir-Blodgett technique for the detection of normal and cancerous cell lines associated with prostate and breast cancers. Morphology of the substrate has been visualized using FESEM and AFM images. In vitro cytotoxicity test was performed to check the biocompatibility of the substrate. SERS sensing ability of the substrate has been tested with the probe 4-Mercaptopyridine molecule. The as-prepared substrate has been employed for the first time to detect normal and cancerous cell lines linked with prostate and breast cancers. Multivariate statistical approaches like principal component analysis (PCA) and loading spectra were further explored for segregation and identification of the cancer cells from their normal counterparts. Intriguingly, the peak positions of the loading spectra nearly correspond to the difference SERS spectra between the normal and cancerous cell lines of prostate and breast cancers. To our knowledge, such one to one correspondence between the peak positions of loading and differences in the SERS spectra has been noticed for the first time and can act as a diagnostic platform to identify the biomarkers for cancerous cell lines in the molecular scale.