Goldnanowire integrated surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for multiplexed small extracellular vesicle analysis

초록

Recently, small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) have gained attention as promising tumor biomarkers. However, the clinical use of tumor-derived sEVs for cancer diagnosis remains limited, as current sEV analysis technologies often lack sufficient sensitivity and multiplexing capability, particularly when only small volumes of body fluids are available. In this study, we propose a multiplexed sEV analysis platform based on a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) immunoassay to address these current limitations of sEV analysis. Our analysis employed crossed gold nanowire (Au NW) substrate together with gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-SERS tags, producing strong electromagnetic enhancement that enables high sensitivity and multiplexed detection of sEV analysis. This assay achieved a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 10 sEVs in 5 μL sample volume, enabling highly sensitive and multiplexed detection of four colorectal cancer (CRC)-associated sEV surface proteins. With the combination of four sEV marker protein signals, healthy control group was successfully differentiated from the CRC patient group with an accuracy of 92%. Furthermore, we demonstrated the potential application of this SERS based-sEV analysis to monitor post-surgery recurrence in CRC patients. Overall, our assay provides a highly sensitive and robust method for four-marker sEV profiling, offering new opportunities for accurate cancer diagnosis and post-operative disease monitoring. © 2026 Elsevier B.V.

키워드