Monitoring Therapeutic Response in Cancers: A Raman Spectroscopy Approach

Abstract

<div>Cancer is a multifactorial disease that is often asymptomatic and is thus</div><div>detected at an advanced stage. Late detection and resistance to treatment are two of the</div><div>major reasons for poor prognosis. The inherent limitations of conventional tools in</div><div>evaluating therapeutic responses, raise the need to monitor such responses during</div><div>treatment. Raman spectroscopy is a rapid, label-free, minimally invasive optical</div><div>vibrational spectroscopy technique that has been widely employed for cancer detection.</div><div>There is also significant literature on its applications in intraoperative surgical margin</div><div>assessment, chemotherapeutic drug monitoring, and prediction of radiation response.</div><div>However, most books and reviews focus on the diagnostic and screening applications</div><div>of Raman spectroscopy. This chapter describes the role of Raman spectroscopy in the</div><div>therapeutic monitoring of cancers and discusses its prospective applications. The</div><div>present work provides a brief introduction to the basic principles of Raman</div><div>spectroscopy, concise information on cancer aetiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and</div><div>therapeutics, and applications of Raman spectroscopy in the therapeutic monitoring of</div><div>cancers. The role of Raman spectroscopy in monitoring conventional treatment</div><div>modalities such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, along with novel</div><div>treatment approaches such as immunotherapy and cold atmospheric plasma therapy, is</div><div>discussed in detail. The chapter concludes with a brief introduction to the emerging</div><div>field of Raman spectroscopy and artificial intelligence.</div>