Rapid Detection of Inflammatory Biomarkers using Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Cytokines are biomarkers of inflammation which are used for disease diagnosis and to understand disease progression. The key pro-inflammatory cytokines released by the inflammatory cells include IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF- α. The quantification of cytokines is crucial due to their clinical significance in physiological and pathological aspects of inflammatory diseases. To overcome the limitations of existing methods which are immunoassay-based, used to detect and analyze the cytokines, the technique of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) is used. This is a highly sensitive technique which can be used to detect samples even at low concentrations. The rapid detection of cytokines simultaneously can be achieved by enhancing the Raman signal using SERS. Each individual cytokine stock solution was deposited on the SERS substrate prepared and analyzed using a Raman spectrometer. The Raman spectra obtained are expected to contain all the characteristic peaks of the sample, similar to the literature data. To further enhance the Raman signals, gold nanoparticles or gold nanorod solutions were added along with the cytokines onto the substrate.