Raman Spectroscopy: Identifying Peaks Associated with Breast Cancer Pathophysiology to Diagnose Cancerous Tissue

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States, and accounts for 15% of female cancer deaths annually. Breast cancer detection techniques including mammography and clinical assessment have high false- positive rates that add a psychological and monetary burden on patients. Near-infrared Raman spectroscopy has been shown to be a viable tool for detecting cancerous breast tissue. Here, we investigated Raman spectroscopy’s ability to differentiate healthy breast tissue from cancerous breast tissue and aimed to identify novel Raman peaks that correspond to the pathophysiology of breast cancer. We hypothesized that peaks associated with proteins and nucleic acids would have a higher intensity in breast cancer tissue, while peaks corresponding to lipids would be more intense in healthy breast tissue.