Identification\nof Molecular Profile of Cell Membrane\nvia Magnetic Plasmonic Nanoprobe

Cell\nmembranes are primarily composed of lipids, membrane proteins,\nand carbohydrates, and the related studies of membrane components\nand structures at different stages of disease development, especially\nmembrane proteins, are of great significance. Here, we investigate\nthe chemical signature profiles of cell membranes as biomarkers for\ncancer cells via label-free surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).\nA magnetic plasmonic nanoprobe was proposed by decorating magnetic\nbeads with silver nanoparticles, allowing self-driven cell membrane-targeted\naccumulation within 5 min. SERS profiles of three types of breast\ncells were achieved under the plasmon enhancement effect of these\nnanoprobes. Membrane fingerprint spectra from breast cell lines were\nfurther classified with the convolutional neural network model, which\nperfectly distinguished between two breast cancer subtypes. We further\ntested various clinical samples using this method and obtained fingerprint\nspectra from primary cells and frozen slices. This study presents\na practical, user-friendly approach for label-free and <i>in\nsitu</i> analysis of cell membranes, which can work for early\ntumor screening and treatment assessment for tumors reliant on the\nMolecular profiles of cell membranes. Additionally, this method can\nbe applied universally to explore cell membrane components of other\ncells, thus assisting Human Cell Atlas.