Spectroscopic signatures determined using 3D co-culture models can be translated to human breast tissue samples.

<p>(A) Tissue microarray (TMA) biopsy cores (1.5 mm core diameter) were IHC stained for ERα and also imaged using FT-IR imaging (N-H/O-H band at 3300 cm⁻¹ visualized here for clarity). Images classified using Bayesian classifier are displayed as well to highlight the ability of FT-IR to discriminate between cell types in complex samples. Scale bar represents 250 µm. (B) Differences between epithelial pixels in patient samples with high (>80%) and low (<20%) expression of ERα can be seen in peaks at 1080 cm⁻¹ (phosphate) and 1030 cm⁻¹ (glycosidic bonds). Interestingly, there are more apparent differences in these peaks when pixels from fibroblasts are analyzed. Full spectrum (3800 – 950 cm⁻¹), C-H stretching region (3000 – 2750 cm⁻¹), and biochemical fingerprint region (1750 – 950 cm⁻¹) are shown.