Cancer characterization and diagnosis with SERS-encoded particles

Abstract Early diagnosis, monitoring and treatment selection of cancer represent major challenges in medicine. The definition of the complex clinical and molecular landscape of cancer requires the combination of multiple techniques and the investigation of multiple targets. As a result, diagnosis is normally lengthy, expensive and, in many cases, cannot be performed recursively. In recent years, optical biosensors, especially those based on the unique properties of plasmonic nanostructures, have emerged as one of the most exciting tools in nanomedicine, capable of overcoming key limitations of classical techniques. In this review, we specifically focus our attention on the latest advances in optical biosensors exploiting surface-enhanced Raman scattering encoded particles for the characterization of tumor single cells (molecular biology) and tissues (immunohistochemistry and guided surgery), as well as their application in guided surgery or even in bioimaging of living organisms