Exosomes contain different functional bimolecular characteristics related to physiological or pathological processes and are now recognized as new biomarkers in different human cancers. Rapid detection and classification of cancer-related exosomes might be helpful in the rapid screening of patients that may have cancer. Here, we report a surface enhanced Raman scattering technology for rapid and label-free exosomal detection (Exo-SERS) to aid in the discrimination of different cancer cells based on specific Raman phenotypes and multivariate statistical analysis. The results demonstrated that exosomes derived from both tumor cells and normal cells exhibit special, unique Raman phenotypes. Using the Exo-SERS method, the cancer cells were accurately discriminated from normal cells, and subtle molecular changes between the different cell types could be detected with high sensitive. This research provides a rapid, label-free and non-destructive manner for detecting and discriminating between cancer types.

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Recently, the doped ternary zinc halides with high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) have demonstrated great potential in light emitting applications. However, the composition-dependent photophysical properties of ternary zinc halides have...

The rapid identification of bacterial antibiotic susceptibility is pivotal to the rational administration of antibacterial drugs. In this study, cefotaxime (CTX)-derived resistance in Salmonella typhimurium (abbr. CTXr-S. typhimurium) during 3 months of exposure was rapidly recorded using a portable Raman spectrometer. The molecular changes that occurred in the drug-resistant strains were sensitively monitored in whole cells by label-free surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Various degrees of resistant strains could be accurately discriminated by applying multivariate statistical analyses to bacterial SERS profiles. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values showed a positive linear correlation with the relative Raman intensities of I990/I1348, and the R2 reached 0.9962. The SERS results were consistent with the data obtained by MIC assays, mutant prevention concentration (MPC) determinations, and Kirby-Bauer antibiotic susceptibility tests (K-B tests). This preliminary proof-of-concept study indicates the high potential of the SERS method to supplement the time-consuming conventional method and help alleviate the challenges of antibiotic resistance in clinical therapy.

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