Dr Nia Jones Nia.Jones@nottingham.ac.uk
CLINICAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Ketankumar B. Gajjar
Abstract
Background: Endometrial cancer (EC) is the 6th most common cancer among women worldwide. No effective non-invasive screening methods or approved blood biomarkers for EC exist. Previous research explored Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FtIR) and Raman spectroscopies, using dried blood plasma. Fresh, ‘wet’, blood samples, that might provide faster results, have not been investigated. This study compared ATR-FtIR and Raman spectroscopies on ‘wet’ and dry blood plasma samples for EC detection. It also conducted a preliminary exploration into their diagnostic potential for EC in high-risk individuals with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods: ‘Wet’ and dry blood plasma samples from participants with EC, PCOS and healthy controls were analysed using ATR-FtIR and Raman spectroscopies. Machine learning algorithms and multivariate statistical analyses assessed spectral variance across datasets to evaluate the techniques’ diagnostic performance. Results: Raman analysis of ‘wet’ plasma achieved 82% accuracy in detecting EC, while ATR-FtIR spectroscopy reached 78%. When combined, diagnostic accuracy reached 86%. In comparison, dry plasma analysis with ATR-FtIR detected EC with 83% accuracy. Spectral similarities were found between EC and PCOS. Conclusions: Our study suggests that ATR-FtIR and Raman spectroscopies could revolutionise early diagnosis of EC. More research is required to validate these promising findings.
Citation
Schiemer, R., Grant, J., Shafiee, M. N., Phang, S., Furniss, D., Boitor, R., Seddon, A. B., Notingher, I., Atiomo, W., Jones, N. W., & Gajjar, K. B. (2025). Infrared and Raman spectroscopy of blood plasma for rapid endometrial cancer detection. British Journal of Cancer, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-025-03050-0
