title: Vibrational spectroscopic changes of B-lymphocytes upon activation.
abstract: The first study interpreting B-lymphocyte activation in normal lymph nodes using vibrational micro-spectral imaging is reported. Lymphocyte activation indicates the presence and response against a pathogen, regardless of the inciting pathogen's etiology, whether a benign, reactive or malignant process. Understanding the biochemical makeup of lymphocyte activation during early stages of disease and immune response may offer significant aid in determining a tumor's origin without the presence of malignant metastatic cells but within lymph nodes that are reactive and displaying regions of hyperplasia. Infrared and Raman data scrutinized via unsupervised multivariate methods may provide a physical and reproducible method to determine the biochemical components and variances therein of activated lymph nodes with distinguishing characteristics depending on the malignancy present in the region or elsewhere in the body. The results reported here provide a proof-of-concept study that reveal a potential to screen lymph nodes for disease without the presence of metastatic cells.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Spectral Diagnosis, Northeastern University, Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. antonella.mazur@gmail.com
authors.forename: Antonella I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Mazur
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Monahan
authors.forename: Miloš
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miljković
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Laver
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diem
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bird
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D000465:Algorithms; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000379:methods*; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared / Q000379:methods; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology