Search

Osteosarcoma is the most frequent primary bone cancer, particularly among children and adolescents. The early diagnosis of osteosarcoma is significant for timely clinical treatment to reduce the mortality of patients. Exosomes play a significant role in intercellular communication and serve as promising biomarkers in liquid biopsy for the diagnosis and monitoring of tumors. Herein, we report the utility of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for rapid identification of osteosarcoma. We firstly profiled the intrinsic SERS signals and MALDI-TOF mass fingerprints of different subgroups of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and the corresponding cells, demonstrating that the SERS signals and MALDI-TOF mass spectra of exosomes from different types of cells were more discriminative compared to those of large and medium EVs and the cells themselves. Then, we characterized plasma-derived exosomes of 15 osteosarcoma patients and 15 healthy volunteers using SERS and MALDI-TOF MS, revealing distinctive biochemical differences in the spectra. We further utilized a data fusion approach to combine the two types of spectroscopic techniques, differentiating osteosarcoma patients from healthy controls with higher precision than either technique. The results reveal that the non-invasive liquid biopsy method using SERS and MALDI-TOF MS fingerprinting of exosomes has great potential for rapid diagnosis of osteosarcoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reported the significantly improved Raman enhancement ability of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) by decorating them on single NaYF4:Yb,Er@SiO2 core–shell particles (UC@SiO2@Ag) under a 785 nm excitation. The optimal thickness of the silica shell can be easily obtained by adjusting the amounts of TEOS, which is the crucial element to balance the upconversion and the formation of a hot spot by Ag NP aggregation. This substrate revealed highly reproducible properties, which is crucial to the practical application of SERS technology. This substrate exhibited an excellent sensitivity for methylamphetamine detection under near-infrared excitation. The advantages of NIR excitation in our SERS sensing open up a new application field of UC-noble metal composites, and also promise a new research direction for the synthesis and applications of SERS-active nanostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reported the significantly improved Raman enhancement ability of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) by decorating them on single NaYF4:Yb,Er@SiO2 core-shell particles (UC@SiO2@Ag) under a 785 nm excitation. The optimal thickness of the silica shell can be easily obtained by adjusting the amounts of TEOS, which is the crucial element to balance the upconversion and the formation of a hot spot by Ag NP aggregation. This substrate revealed highly reproducible properties, which is crucial to the practical application of SERS technology. This substrate exhibited an excellent sensitivity for methylamphetamine detection under near-infrared excitation. The advantages of NIR excitation in our SERS sensing open up a new application field of UC-noble metal composites, and also promise a new research direction for the synthesis and applications of SERS-active nanostructures.

This study has investigated the plasmonic photocatalytic ability of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and the significantly improved Raman achieved by decorating them on a single NaYF4:Yb,Er upconversion (UC) microcrystal under near-infrared excitation. This points to new applications for UC-noble metal composites and promises a novel method for constructing SERS-active nanostructures.