You're using an outdated browser. Please upgrade to a modern browser for the best experience.
Raman Spectroscopy for Early Detection of Cervical Cancer: Comparison
Please note this is a comparison between Version 2 by Camila Xu and Version 1 by Rubina Shaikh.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common women’s cancer in the world, and unfortunately mainly affects younger women. Current methods for screening and diagnosis of cervical cancer and precancer are therefore limited, and there has been much interest in the use of optical spectroscopic approaches, such as Raman spectroscopy, to provide an objective test based on the biochemical fingerprint of the cervical cells or tissues. Raman spectroscopy is based on inelastic scattering, which has been used to study the biomolecular fingerprint of cells or tissues. It involves shining a laser on a sample and measuring the scattered photons. When a photon collides on a molecule, it either retains its energy (known as Rayleigh scattering) or exchanges energy with the molecule (known as Raman scattering).

  • cancer screening
  • human papillomavirus
  • cervical cancer
  • Raman spectroscopy

1. Introduction

1.1. Cervical

According to GLOBOCAN [1], cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide in terms of incidence and mortality, with 604,127 new cases and 341,831 deaths in 2020 [1]. Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) is accepted as the major cause of the development of cervical cancer and precancer [2]. Over 100 different types of HPV have been identified, and 14 are considered to be high-risk HPV types (hrHPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 66, and 68) [3]. Smoking, immunosuppression, long-term use of oral contraceptives, and socioeconomic status are also known risk factors for cervical cancer [4].
In 2018, the World Health Organisation launched a global initiative to eliminate cervical cancer through three main actions: HPV vaccination, cervical cancer screening, and effective treatment [5]. At present, three HPV vaccines are available: (1) a bivalent vaccine targeting high-risk HPV16 and HPV18 (accounting for ~70% of cervical cancer cases), (2) a quadrivalent vaccine targeting HPV16, HPV18, and low-risk HPV6 and HPV11, and (3) a nonavalent vaccine targeting HPV16, HPV18, HPV6, HPV11, and five other high-risk types, HPV31, HPV33, HPV45, HPV52, and HPV58 (accounting for another 20% of cervical cancer cases) [6]. Despite these vaccines having excellent efficacy against cervical precancer lesions [6[6][7],7], vaccination levels are low in low- and middle-income countries, which carry the burden of 80% of global cancer cases [8]. Moreover, high-quality cervical screening programmes are still essential, as HPV vaccination does not protect against all high-risk HPV types [9].

1.2. Cervical Cancer Screening and Diagnosis

For decades, cytology was used for primary cervical screening, but recently, HPV testing has replaced cytology in many countries because HPV testing has a higher sensitivity than cytology for the detection of high-grade cervical precancer (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)2+) [10]. Additional triage tests are required, however, for HPV-positive women, because HPV testing has a lower specificity than cytology [11]. Cytology triage is currently utilised to reduce over-referral to colposcopy and overtreatment of HPV-positive women.
Following an abnormal Pap test (HPV test with cytology triage), a woman will be sent for colposcopy to visualise the cervix followed by a tissue biopsy and histopathology. Histopathology is currently regarded as the ‘gold standard’ test for the diagnosis of cancer but the grading characteristics can be subjective and precancer may not be visually perceptible. Current methods for screening and diagnosis of cervical cancer and precancer are therefore limited, and there has been much interest in the use of optical spectroscopic approaches, such as Raman spectroscopy, to provide an objective test based on the biochemical fingerprint of the cervical cells or tissues.

1.3. Raman Spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy is based on inelastic scattering, which has been used to study the biomolecular fingerprint of cells or tissues [12]. It involves shining a laser on a sample and measuring the scattered photons. When a photon collides on a molecule, it either retains its energy (known as Rayleigh scattering) or exchanges energy with the molecule (known as Raman scattering). The resulting Raman spectra are plots of scattered intensity versus the energy difference between incident and scattered photons, and exhibit changes in the vibrational modes of the molecules. Raman spectra are characterized by shifts in wavenumbers (inverse of wavelength in cm−1) from the incident frequency. The frequency difference between incident and scattered Raman photons is termed the Raman shift, which is unique to any given molecule.

1.4. Evolution of Raman Spectroscopy and Its Application in Cervical Cancer

During a sea voyage from India to England in 1921, the Indian Physicist C.V. Raman conducted experiments, later submitted to Nature as a letter called ‘The Colour of the Sea’ [13] (Figure 1). A later series of experiments on the scattering of light in different liquids led to the discovery of the inelastic scattering effect named after Raman in 1928 [14], and this discovery was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. One of the known limitations of Raman spectroscopy was, for example, a weak scattering [12]: typically 1 in 108 of the incident light undergoes spontaneous Raman scattering. Additional limitations were long spectral acquisition time, background fluorescence, and interference from silica in fibre optics [12]. Many of these limitations were overcome by the invention of lasers in the 1960s, and fibre-optic probes and CCD in the 1980s [12].
Figure 1. Major events in cervical cancer screening and Raman spectroscopy (blue flags are the event in Cervical cancer screening; orange flags are the events in technological advancement in Raman spectroscopy).
In parallel with the technological advances in the field of Raman spectroscopy, there was development in the field of cervical cancer and its screening methods. For example, Dr Papanicolaou and Dr Herbert collaborated on the diagnosis of uterine cancer using the vaginal smear in August 1943 [15], and the current cervical screening has evolved from this cervical screening test, popularly known as the Papanicolaou (Pap) test [16] (Figure 1). Later, the human papillomavirus virus (HPV) was linked to cervical cancer, leading to the Nobel Prize [17]. Nationwide screening using the Pap test was implemented in 1990 in developed nations, resulting in a >70% decline in both the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer [18].
In the 1990s, technological advancements in cytology led to the development of liquid-based cytology (LBC), which was shown to be better quality than the conventional Pap test [16]. Multiple studies have exhibited a significant impact of LBC in decreasing the incidence of cervical cancer [19]. The 2000s saw the emergence of a HPV vaccine [20] and other revolutions, such as co-testing to reduce the cervical cancer burden [21]. In recent years, HPV-based screening with cytology has been implemented in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, the UK, and Ireland [22,23][22][23]. Contrary to this, developing nations struggle to have national-level cervical screening programmes, either due to a lack of infrastructure or trained histopathologists [22]. To date, cervical cancer remains a major global challenge.

2. Cytology

Table 1 summarises the studies on applying Raman spectroscopy in cervical cytology.

2.1. Cell Pellets

Vargis et al. [31][24] demonstrated that Raman spectroscopy could detect the presence of high-risk HPV in cytology samples. Spectral differences were observed in regions corresponding to lipid, amino acid, and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content and CH stretching and bending regions assigned to proteins. HPV-positive and HPV-negative cytology samples were discriminated against with an accuracy of 98.5%. Rubina et al. [32][25] used Raman spectroscopy to discriminate between exfoliated cell pellets from patients with negative cytology and cervical cancer cytology. Classification efficiency of ~90% was achieved using principal component analysis-linear discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA) [33][26], but heme and fibrin bands from blood appeared to be major discriminating features. A subset of cell pellets was treated with red blood cell lysis buffer before Raman spectroscopy. Successful blood removal was confirmed by the absence of heme and fibrin bands. The main discriminating feature was increased protein content in the cervical cancer samples compared to the negative samples. A classification efficiency of ~80% was achieved using PCA-LDA. Misclassifications were attributed to sample heterogeneity and the predominance of normal cells in the cervical cancer samples. This work was extended by Hole et al. [34][27] to Raman analysis of cervical and oral exfoliated cell pellets. The main discriminating features were DNA and protein, and improved classification was achieved when mean spectra from each sample were used to overcome intra-sample heterogeneity (84% cervical and 86% oral cancer) compared to all spectra from each sample (77% cervical and 82% oral cancer).
Table 1.
Application of Raman spectroscopy in cervical cytology.

References

  1. Sung, H.; Ferlay, J.; Siegel, R.L.; Laversanne, M.; Soerjomataram, I.; Jemal, A.; Bray, F. Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries. CA Cancer J. Clin. 2021, 71, 209–249.
  2. Walboomers, J.M.M.; Jacobs, M.V.; Manos, M.M.; Bosch, F.X.; Kummer, J.A.; Shah, K.V.; Snijders, P.J.F.; Peto, J.; Meijer, C.J.L.M.; Muñoz, N. Human Papillomavirus Is a Necessary Cause of Invasive Cervical Cancer Worldwide. J. Pathol. 1999, 189, 12–19.
  3. Paavonen, J.; Naud, P.; Salmerón, J.; Wheeler, C.M.; Chow, S.N.; Apter, D.; Kitchener, H.; Castellsague, X.; Teixeira, J.C.; Skinner, S.R.; et al. Efficacy of Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-16/18 AS04-Adjuvanted Vaccine against Cervical Infection and Precancer Caused by Oncogenic HPV Types (PATRICIA): Final Analysis of a Double-Blind, Randomised Study in Young Women. Lancet 2009, 374, 301–314.
  4. Franco, E.L.; Schlecht, N.F.; Saslow, D. The Epidemiology of Cervical Cancer. Cancer J. 2003, 9, 348–359.
  5. Simms, K.T.; Steinberg, J.; Caruana, M.; Smith, M.A.; Lew, J.-B.; Soerjomataram, I.; Castle, P.E.; Bray, F.; Canfell, K. Impact of Scaled up Human Papillomavirus Vaccination and Cervical Screening and the Potential for Global Elimination of Cervical Cancer in 181 Countries, 2020–2099: A Modelling Study. Lancet Oncol. 2019, 20, 394–407.
  6. Sundström, K.; Miriam Elfström, K. Advances in Cervical Cancer Prevention: Efficacy, Effectiveness, Elimination? PLoS Med. 2020, 17, e1003035.
  7. Davies-Oliveira, J.C.; Smith, M.A.; Grover, S.; Canfell, K.; Crosbie, E.J. Eliminating Cervical Cancer: Progress and Challenges for High-Income Countries. Clin. Oncol. (R. Coll. Radiol.) 2021, 33, 550–559.
  8. Bruni, L.; Diaz, M.; Barrionuevo-Rosas, L.; Herrero, R.; Bray, F.; Bosch, F.X.; de Sanjosé, S.; Castellsagué, X. Global Estimates of Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Coverage by Region and Income Level: A Pooled Analysis. Lancet Glob. Health 2016, 4, e453–e463.
  9. Lei, J.; Ploner, A.; Lehtinen, M.; Sparén, P.; Dillner, J.; Elfström, K.M. Impact of HPV Vaccination on Cervical Screening Performance: A Population-Based Cohort Study. Br. J. Cancer 2020, 123, 155–160.
  10. Tota, J.E.; Bentley, J.; Blake, J.; Coutlée, F.; Duggan, M.A.; Ferenczy, A.; Franco, E.L.; Fung-Kee-Fung, M.; Gotlieb, W.; Mayrand, M.H.; et al. Introduction of Molecular HPV Testing as the Primary Technology in Cervical Cancer Screening: Acting on Evidence to Change the Current Paradigm. Prev. Med. 2017, 98, 5–14.
  11. Bonde, J.; Floore, A.; Ejegod, D.; Vink, F.J.; Hesselink, A.; Ven, P.M.; Valenčak, A.O.; Pedersen, H.; Doorn, S.; Quint, W.G.; et al. Methylation Markers FAM19A4 and miR124-2 as Triage Strategy for Primary Human Papillomavirus Screen Positive Women: A Large European Multicenter Study. Int. J. Cancer 2020, 148, 396–405.
  12. Ellis, D.I.; Cowcher, D.P.; Ashton, L.; O’Hagan, S.; Goodacre, R. Illuminating Disease and Enlightening Biomedicine: Raman Spectroscopy as a Diagnostic Tool. Analyst 2013, 138, 3871–3884.
  13. Raman, C.V. The Colour of the Sea. Nature 1921, 108, 367.
  14. Raman, C.V.; Krishnan, K.S. A New Type of Secondary Radiation. Nature 1928, 121, 501–502.
  15. Wells, L.J. Diagnosis of Uterine Cancer by the Vaginal Smear. By George, N. Papanicolaou and Herbert, F. Traut. The Commonwealth Fund, New York. Vii + 46 Pp. 1943 ($5.00). Anat. Rec. 1943, 86, 591–592.
  16. Swid, M.A.; Monaco, S.E. Should Screening for Cervical Cancer Go to Primary Human Papillomavirus Testing and Eliminate Cytology? Mod. Pathol. 2022, 35, 858–864.
  17. Javier, R.T.; Butel, J.S. The History of Tumor Virology. Cancer Res. 2008, 68, 7693–7706.
  18. Bedell, S.L.; Goldstein, L.S.; Goldstein, A.R.; Goldstein, A.T. Cervical Cancer Screening: Past, Present, and Future. Sex. Med. Rev. 2020, 8, 28–37.
  19. Gibb, R.K.; Martens, M.G. The Impact of Liquid-Based Cytology in Decreasing the Incidence of Cervical Cancer. Rev. Obstet. Gynecol. 2011, 4, S2–S11.
  20. Cheng, L.; Wang, Y.; Du, J. Human Papillomavirus Vaccines: An Updated Review. Vaccines 2020, 8, 391.
  21. Malinowski, D.P.; Broache, M.; Vaughan, L.; Andrews, J.; Gary, D.; Kaufman, H.W.; Alagia, D.P.; Chen, Z.; Onisko, A.; Austin, R.M. Cotesting in Cervical Cancer Screening. Am. J. Clin. Pathol. 2021, 155, 150–154.
  22. Maver, P.J.; Poljak, M. Primary HPV-Based Cervical Cancer Screening in Europe: Implementation Status, Challenges, and Future Plans. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. 2020, 26, 579–583.
  23. What Early Detection and Prevention Measures Are Available? Germany. Available online: https://www.krebsdaten.de/krebs/en/content/cancer_sites/cervical_cancer/cervical_cancer_node.html (accessed on 3 January 2020).
  24. Bazant-Hegemark, F.; Edey, K.; Swingler, G.R.; Read, M.D.; Stone, N. Review: Optical Micrometer Resolution Scanning for Non-Invasive Grading of Precancer in the Human Uterine Cervix. Technol. Cancer Res. Treat. 2008, 7, 483–496.
  25. Chilakapati, M.; Sockalingum, G.; Vidyasagar, M.; Manfait, M.; Fernanades, D.; Vadhiraja, B.; Maheedhar, K. An Overview on Applications of Optical Spectroscopy in Cervical Cancers. J. Cancer Res. Ther. 2008, 4, 26.
  26. Vargis, E.; Tang, Y.-W.; Khabele, D.; Mahadevan-Jansen, A. Near-Infrared Raman Microspectroscopy Detects High-Risk Human Papillomaviruses. Transl. Oncol. 2012, 5, 172–179.
  27. Rubina, S.; Amita, M.; Kedar, K.D.; Bharat, R.; Krishna, C.M. Raman Spectroscopic Study on Classification of Cervical Cell Specimens. Vib. Spectrosc. 2013, 68, 115–121.
  28. Gautam, R.; Vanga, S.; Ariese, F.; Umapathy, S. Review of Multidimensional Data Processing Approaches for Raman and Infrared Spectroscopy. EPJ Tech. Instrum. 2015, 2, 8.
  29. Talari, A.C.S.; Movasaghi, Z.; Rehman, S.; Rehman, I.U. Raman Spectroscopy of Biological Tissues. Appl. Spectrosc. Rev. 2015, 50, 46–111.
  30. Hole, A.; Tyagi, G.; Sahu, A.; Shaikh, R.; Chilakapati, M. Exploration of Raman Exfoliated Cytology for Oral and Cervical Cancers. Vib. Spectrosc. 2018, 98, 35–40.
  31. Bonnier, F.; Traynor, D.; Kearney, P.; Clarke, C.; Knief, P.; Martin, C.; O’Leary, J.J.; Byrne, H.J.; Lyng, F. Processing ThinPrep Cervical Cytological Samples for Raman Spectroscopic Analysis. Anal. Methods 2014, 6, 7831–7841.
  32. Ramos, I.; Meade, A.D.; Ibrahim, O.; Byrne, H.; McMenamin, M.; McKenna, M.; Malkin, A.; Lyng, F. Raman Spectroscopy for Cytopathology of Exfoliated Cervical Cells. Faraday Discuss. 2015, 187, 187–198.
  33. Kearney, P.; Traynor, D.; Bonnier, F.; Lyng, F.M.; O’Leary, J.J.; Martin, C.M. Raman Spectral Signatures of Cervical Exfoliated Cells from Liquid-Based Cytology Samples. J. Biomed. Opt. 2017, 22, 1.
  34. Traynor, D.; Duraipandian, S.; Martin, C.M.; O’Leary, J.J.; Lyng, F.M. Improved Removal of Blood Contamination from ThinPrep Cervical Cytology Samples for Raman Spectroscopic Analysis. J. Biomed. Opt. 2018, 23, 1.
  35. Duraipandian, S.; Traynor, D.; Kearney, P.; Martin, C.; O’Leary, J.J.; Lyng, F.M. Raman Spectroscopic Detection of High-Grade Cervical Cytology: Using Morphologically Normal Appearing Cells. Sci. Rep. 2018, 8, 15048.
  36. Traynor, D.; Kearney, P.; Ramos, I.; Martin, C.M.; O’Leary, J.J.; Lyng, F.M. A Study of Hormonal Effects in Cervical Smear Samples Using Raman Spectroscopy. J. Biophotonics 2018, 11, e201700240.
  37. Aljakouch, K.; Hilal, Z.; Daho, I.; Schuler, M.; Krauß, S.D.; Yosef, H.K.; Dierks, J.; Mosig, A.; Gerwert, K.; El-Mashtoly, S.F. Fast and Noninvasive Diagnosis of Cervical Cancer by Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering. Anal. Chem. 2019, 91, 13900–13906.
  38. Zheng, X.; Wang, J.; Yin, L.; Luo, B.; Lv, X.; Wu, G. Label-Free Detection of High-Risk Human Papillomaviruses Infection Using Raman Spectroscopy and Multivariate Analysis. Laser Phys. Lett. 2020, 17, 115601.
  39. Sitarz, K.; Czamara, K.; Bialecka, J.; Klimek, M.; Zawilinska, B.; Szostek, S.; Kaczor, A. HPV Infection Significantly Accelerates Glycogen Metabolism in Cervical Cells with Large Nuclei: Raman Microscopic Study with Subcellular Resolution. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21, 2667.
  40. Karunakaran, V.; Saritha, V.N.; Joseph, M.M.; Nair, J.B.; Saranya, G.; Raghu, K.G.; Sujathan, K.; Kumar, K.S.; Maiti, K.K. Diagnostic Spectro-Cytology Revealing Differential Recognition of Cervical Cancer Lesions by Label-Free Surface Enhanced Raman Fingerprints and Chemometrics. Nanomed. Nanotechnol. Biol. Med. 2020, 29, 102276.
  41. Karunakaran, V.; Saritha, V.N.; Ramya, A.N.; Murali, V.P.; Raghu, K.G.; Sujathan, K.; Maiti, K.K. Elucidating Raman Image-Guided Differential Recognition of Clinically Confirmed Grades of Cervical Exfoliated Cells by Dual Biomarker-Appended SERS-Tag. Anal. Chem. 2021, 93, 11140–11150.
  42. Sitarz, K.; Czamara, K.; Bialecka, J.; Klimek, M.; Szostek, S.; Kaczor, A. Dual Switch in Lipid Metabolism in Cervical Epithelial Cells during Dysplasia Development Observed Using Raman Microscopy and Molecular Methods. Cancers 2021, 13, 1997.
  43. Shen, Z.-W.; Zhang, L.-J.; Shen, Z.-Y.; Zhang, Z.-F.; Xu, F.; Zhang, X.; Li, R.; Xiao, Z. Efficacy of Raman Spectroscopy in the Diagnosis of Uterine Cervical Neoplasms: A Meta-Analysis. Front. Med. 2022, 9, 1277.
More
Academic Video Service