title: Detection of low-quantity anticancer drugs by surface-enhanced Raman scattering.
abstract: Ultrasensitive detection of low-quantity drugs is important for personalized therapeutic approaches in several diseases and, in particular, for cancer treatment. In this field, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) can be very useful for its ability to precisely identify analytes from their unique vibrational spectra, with very high sensitivity. Here, we report a study about SERS detection of sunitinib, paclitaxel and irinotecan, i.e. three commonly used antineoplastic drugs, and of SN-38, i.e. the metabolite of irinotecan, dissolved in methanol solutions. By using commercial Klarite substrates, we found that sunitinib, irinotecan and SN-38 have detection limits of 20-70 ng, which is below the threshold for applications in cancer therapy. Conversely, the SERS signal was not appreciable with paclitaxel, and this is explained by the absence of optical resonances in the visible range. Overall, our results show that ultrasensitive SERS detection of sunitinib, irinotecan and SN-38 is feasible, encouraging further development of this technology also for other drugs with similar molecular structure especially for those analytes with absorption bands in the visible range.
authors: Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131, Padova, Italy.
authors: Lucio
authors: L
authors: Litti
authors: Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131, Padova, Italy. vincenzo.amendola@unipd.it.
authors: Vincenzo
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9937-7005
authors: V
authors: Amendola
authors: CRO National Cancer Institute Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology Division, Department of Translational Research, IRCCS, Via Franco Gallini 2, 33081, Aviano, Italy.
authors: Giuseppe
authors: G
authors: Toffoli
authors: Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131, Padova, Italy.
authors: Moreno
authors: M
authors: Meneghetti
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000032:analysis*; D002166:Camptothecin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007211:Indoles / Q000032:analysis; D000077146:Irinotecan; D057230:Limit of Detection; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000032:analysis; D011758:Pyrroles / Q000032:analysis; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods*; D000077210:Sunitinib; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D007211:Indoles; D011758:Pyrroles; D000077146:Irinotecan; D004317:Doxorubicin; D017239:Paclitaxel; D000077210:Sunitinib; D002166:Camptothecin
keywords: Anticancer drugs; CPT-11; Doxorubicin; Irinotecan; Paclitaxel; SERS; SN-38; Sunitinib