Raman spectroscopy-based molecularly imprinted polymer sensor for sensitive detection of lysophosphatidic acid in serum

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) has significant potential as a biomarker for diagnosis of ovarian cancer in female patients because it is present throughout all phases of the illness. Regrettably, there is not a clinically useful test for this biomarker yet. In this work, an ultra-detection of LPA molecule by Raman spectroscopy-based molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) in serum samples is reported. β-CD was synthesized to facilitate the collection of Raman spectroscopy and combined with MIP to denote it as β-CD-MIP for the adsorption of LPA with high sensitivity and selectivity. Linear regression model in serum samples shows peaks at 1100 and 1116 cm⁻¹, respectively. A satisfactory linear fit was seen with LPA concentration log I = 3.7 log C + 1255.74 and with spiked serum log I = 4.6 log C + 327.22, respectively. The literature survey suggests the threshold LPA level in healthy person is 1.50 μM/L whereas the LPA level rises in patients with benign ovarian cancer tumor as 7.90 μM/L. This LPA level rises to 16.99 μM/L in ovarian cancer patients. On the basis of the band intensity, the limit of detection of the β-CD-MIP sensor for LPA was recorded as 0.003 μM/L. The binding constant of β-CD-MIP for LPA in serum was 0.031–0.003 μM/L, respectively. β-CD-MIP gel was optimized, characterized, and successfully applied on spiked serum samples. The findings of this research show that this substrate has a lot of potential for ultradetection of trace amounts of LPA molecule from the serum samples. The MIP sensor is robust, recyclable, efficient, and selective.