Chinese scientists have developed a novel surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) array sensor that transforms nanoproteomics data into multidimensional Raman spectromics, enabling facile and cost-effective ovarian cancer (OC) diagnosis. The study bridges the gap between deep proteomic analysis and clinical-scale screening, offering a powerful new tool for tackling one of the deadliest gynecologic cancers.
This research was led by Prof. LIU Yuan from Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. TAO Wei from Brigham and Women’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School. The study has been published in Cell Biomaterials on December 8, 2025.
The core of the technology is an array of SiO2@Au nanoparticle-protein corona (NPC) sensors functionalized with DNA-Cy3 and three distinct Raman dyes (3,4-difluorothiophenol [DFTP], 4-nitrothiophenol [NTP], and 4-bromothiophenol [BTP]). When incubated with clinical serum samples, these nanoparticles capture cancer-specific low-abundance proteins, forming unique protein coronas. The Raman dyes amplify subtle proteomic differences, generating a robust spectral fingerprint with 26 resolvable peaks that effectively avoid overlap from complex serum components.
Unlike labor-intensive mass spectrometry, the sensor requires no tedious sample preprocessing. By integrating machine learning analysis of the multidimensional Raman data, the platform achieved an impressive area under the curve (AUC) of 97.31% in clinical validation with 137 serum samples, outperforming standard OC biomarkers (CA125 and HE4, which only had an AUC of 78%). Notably, the sensor also successfully distinguished untreated OC patients from those who had undergone chemotherapy, demonstrating its ability to detect dynamic proteomic changes associated with treatment response.
While validated for ovarian cancer, the researchers envision that the modular design of the NPC sensor array could be adapted to detect other cancers by tuning the nanoparticle surface modifications. This work bridges nanoproteomics and optical biosensing, paving the way for precision oncology tools that combine molecular specificity with clinical practicality. Future multi-center trials will further validate the technology’s clinical utility, bringing it closer to transforming cancer screening and diagnosis.
