Despite
the potential indicating role of tyrosinase (TYR) in cutaneous
melanoma, how to capture the real changes of TYR in suspicious skin
remains a major challenge. Unlike the traditional human serum test,
this study reports a sensing platform that incorporates a wearable
microneedle (MN) patch and trimetallic Au@Ag-Pt nanoparticles (NPs)
for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and colorimetric dual-mode
detecting TYR in human skin in situ toward potential
melanoma screening. In the presence of TYR, catechol immobilized on
MN is preferentially oxidized to benzoquinone, which competitively
impedes the interaction of MN and Au@Ag-Pt NPs, triggering the SERS–colorimetric
signal reciprocal switch. Using a B16F10 mouse melanoma model, our
platform is capable of noninvasively piercing the skin surface and
detecting TYR levels before and during anti-PD-1 antibody treatment,
which would be highly informative for prognostic judgment and illness
monitoring of melanoma. Through in situ sensing for
capturing the metabolic changes of TYR in advance, this platform was
successfully applied to discriminate the melanoma subjects from skin
moles and normal ones (p < 0.001), as well as
screen potential melanoma from lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)-negative
patients. Melanoma growth and prognosis can still be monitored through
recording the continuous change of TYR levels. More importantly, the
well-defined flexible and stretchable characteristics of the MN patch
allow robustly adhering to the skin without inducing chemical or physical
irritation. We believe this platform integrating MN-based in situ sensing, TYR responsiveness, and SERS/colorimetric
dual-readout strategy will have high clinical importance in early
diagnosis and monitoring of cutaneous melanoma.