Raman spectroscopy for accurately characterizing biomolecular changes in androgen‐independent prostate cancer cells

• Published in: Journal of biophotonics Vol. 11; no. 3
• Main Authors: Corsetti, Stella, Rabl, Thomas, McGloin, David, Nabi, Ghulam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA 01.03.2018; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Amino acids; Androgens; Androgens - metabolism; Arginine; Biological properties; Biological samples; Cancer; castrate resistant prostate cancer (CRPC); Cell Line, Tumor; Change detection; Conformation; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Fingerprinting; Full; Humans; L‐arginine; Male; Metastases; Metastasis; metastatic prostate cancer cells; Phenylalanine; Principal components analysis; Prostate cancer; Prostatic Neoplasms - metabolism; Prostatic Neoplasms - pathology; Raman spectroscopy; Spectroscopy; Spectrum analysis; Spectrum Analysis, Raman; Tyrosine; metastatic prostate cancer cells; castrate resistant prostate cancer (CRPC); phenylalanine; Raman spectroscopy; L-arginine
• ISSN: 1864-063X; 1864-0648
• DOI: 10.1002/jbio.201700166

Metastatic prostate cancer resistant to hormonal manipulation is considered the advanced stage of the disease and leads to most cancer‐related mortality. With new research focusing on modulating cancer growth, it is essential to understand the biochemical changes in cells that can then be exploited for drug discovery and for improving responsiveness to treatment. Raman spectroscopy has a high chemical specificity and can be used to detect and quantify molecular changes at the cellular level. Collection of large data sets generated from biological samples can be employed to form discriminatory algorithms for detection of subtle and early changes in cancer cells. The present study describes Raman finger printing of normal and metastatic hormone‐resistant prostate cancer cells including analyses with principal component analysis and linear discrimination. Amino acid‐specific signals were identified, especially loss of arginine band. Androgen‐resistant prostate cancer cells presented a higher content of phenylalanine, tyrosine, DNA and Amide III in comparison to PNT2 cells, which possessed greater amounts of L‐arginine and had a B conformation of DNA. The analysis utilized in this study could reliably differentiate the 2 cell lines (sensitivity 95%; specificity 88%). At the present, metastatic prostate cancer resistant to hormonal manipulation is an incurable disease. The upregulation of a number of growth factors, proteins and pathways is the result of cancer cell proliferation. Analysis of this complex environment is essential to develop novel targeted therapies. Here, Raman spectroscopy was used to investigate biochemical differences between metastatic androgen‐independent prostate cells and normal prostate cells with the aim of detecting possible tumour biomarkers.