Microwave ablation (MWA) is widely applied in the treatment of cancer, especially hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the lack of indicators for evaluating ablation completeness limits the success rate and wider application of MWA. This study therefore aims to identify novel serum biomarkers for evaluating the completeness of ablation. Multiple cytokines are preliminarily identified through cell experiments, and the potential as biomarkers is evaluated using clinical serum samples from patients with HCC before and after MWA. CCL20 and EGF are identified as promising biomarkers of the completeness of MWA. Additionally, we develop a highly sensitive and specific quantitative detection method for detecting CCL20 and EGF levels by fabricating a sandwich surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) nano-architecture amplification-based immunosensor. The linear detection range of this SERS platform is 0.1 pg/mL–1 ng/mL with the limit of detections (LoDs) decreasing to 0.082 pg/mL for CCL20 and 0.096 pg/mL for EGF. The remarkable consistency of the SERS immunosensor and ELISA in detecting CCL20 and EGF serum levels highlights the promising clinical utility of SERS in biomarker detection. The exceptional sensitivity of SERS in detecting CCL20 and EGF offers a potential avenue for enhancing the assessment of clinical MWA completeness, consequently leading to improved patient survival rates.

中文翻译：

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血清蛋白生物标志物的定量 SERS 检测用于评估肿瘤微波消融结果


微波消融（MWA）广泛应用于癌症的治疗，特别是肝细胞癌（HCC）。然而，缺乏评价消融完整性的指标限制了MWA的成功率和更广泛的应用。因此，本研究旨在鉴定新的血清生物标志物以评估消融的完整性。通过细胞实验初步鉴定了多种细胞因子，并使用 HCC 患者 MWA 前后的临床血清样本评估了其作为生物标志物的潜力。 CCL20 和 EGF 被认为是 MWA 完整性的有前途的生物标志物。此外，我们通过制造夹心表面增强拉曼光谱（SERS）纳米结构放大免疫传感器，开发了一种高灵敏度和特异性的定量检测方法，用于检测 CCL20 和 EGF 水平。该 SERS 平台的线性检测范围为 0.1 pg/mL–1 ng/mL，CCL20 的检测限 (LoD) 降至 0.082 pg/mL，EGF 的检测限降至 0.096 pg/mL。 SERS 免疫传感器和 ELISA 在检测 CCL20 和 EGF 血清水平方面的显着一致性凸显了 SERS 在生物标志物检测中的有前景的临床应用。 SERS 在检测 CCL20 和 EGF 方面的卓越灵敏度为增强临床 MWA 完整性评估提供了潜在途径，从而提高患者生存率。