Melanoma is the most aggressive and lethal form of skin cancer, with a steadily increasing incidence in the last decades. Early melanomas (melanomas in situ) can be successfully excised, which results in a high cure rate (5-year survival rate of 97%). However, for the more advanced stages the mortality rate is high. Clinical diagnosis of early-stage melanoma is notoriously difficult for dermatologists, often leading to missed diagnosis as well as to unnecessary removal of benign lesions. Dermatologists report a strong clinical need of an add-on tool that will enable to differentiate melanoma from suspicious melanocytic lesions. A promising approach is an analysis based on biochemical differences, which are much more specific than morphological variations (and usually precede the latter).
Raman spectroscopy (RS) is a highly-sensitive optical technique based on specific molecular vibrations of the tissue components, which enables non-invasive and non-destructive monitoring of tissue, revealing disease-prompted variations and allowing to differentiate healthy from malignant samples with high sensitivity and specificity.
The present proposal is predicated on developing a high-speed low-cost RS solution for an objective diagnosis of melanoma, which is an unmet clinical need. The success of this study is ensured by the expertise of the team members in a close scientific collaboration between 2 R&D national laboratories (QFM-UC, LIBPhys-UC), 2 consulting R&D laboratories (University of Nottingham, Erasmus Medical Centre), and two health-care institutions in the area of oncology and melanoma (IPOCFG and LUMC).
State
Ongoing
Period
2023 to 2024
Funding
49.944,86 €
Project code
2022.03336.PTDC
Funding entity
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)
Members
Luís Alberto Esteves Batista de Carvalho (Principal Investigator)
Maria Paula Matos Marques Catarro
Ana Lúcia Marques Batista de Carvalho
Adriana Maria Pires Mamede
Andreia Sofia Feitor Gaudêncio
Francisco Paulo de Sá Campos Gil
João Manuel Cardoso
Maria Miguel Camelo Amaral Canelas
Miguel Silva
Paulo Figueiredo
Pedro Guilherme da Cunha Leitão Dias Vaz