Combined SERS and chemometric analyses of blood plasma and bone marrow towards pediatric leukemia biomarkers detection.

The applicability of enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to differentiate acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in pediatric patients using clinically accessible biofluids remains unexplored. Therefore, this study addresses the need for a rapid, noninvasive method capable of distinguishing ALL from healthy conditions at the molecular level. Label-free SERS spectra obtained from bone marrow and blood plasma were analyzed using multivariate statistical methods supported by partial least squares regression, enabling discrimination between leukemia and healthy samples across three consecutive factors, which is 69%, 76% (X matrix), and 89%, 76% (Y matrix) for bone marrow and blood plasma, respectively. Moreover, the data calculated for blood plasma taken at diagnosis, consolidation, and control points explain 76% (X-matrix) and 66% (Y-matrix) of the total information. The corresponding weighted regression coefficients indicate that the variables at 653, 685, 724, 1002, and 1394 cm- 1 are marker bands in the presented analysis. Analyzing both types of samples (bone marrow and blood plasma) from one patient, we have found a strong relationship with the pediatric ALL patients' condition.