Characterisation of breast cancer molecular signature and treatment assessment with vibrational spectroscopy and chemometric approach

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is regarded as the most aggressive breast cancer subtype with poor overall survival and lack of targeted therapies, resulting in many patients with recurrent. The insight into the detailed biochemical composition of TNBC would help develop dedicated treatments. Thus, in this study Fourier Transform Infrared microspectroscopy combined with chemometrics and absorbance ratios investigation was employed to compare healthy controls with TNBC tissue before and after chemotherapy within the same patient. The primary spectral differences between control and cancer tissues were found in proteins, polysaccharides, and nucleic acids. Amide I/Amide II ratio decrease before and increase after chemotherapy, whereas DNA, RNA, and glycogen contents increase before and decrease after the treatment. The chemometric results revealed discriminatory features reflecting a clinical response scheme and proved the chemotherapy efficacy assessment with infrared spectroscopy is possible.