A Preliminary Study of FTIR Spectroscopy as a Potential Non-Invasive Screening Tool for Pediatric Precursor B Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Abstract

Early detection of the most common pediatric neoplasm, B-cell precursor lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL), is challenging and requires invasive bone marrow biopsies. The purpose of this study was to establish new biomarkers for early screening to detect pediatric leukemia. In this small cohort study, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra were obtained from blood sera of 10 patients with BCP-ALL and were compared with the control samples from 10 children with some conditions other than neoplasm. Using various analytical approaches, including a new physical model, some significant differences were observable. The most important include: the different peak area ratio 2965/1645 cm−1 (p = 0.002); the lower average percentage of both β-sheet and β-turn protein structures in the sera of BCP-ALL patients (p = 0.03); an AdaBoost-based predictive model for classifying healthy vs. BCP-ALL patients with 85% accuracy; and the phase shift of the first derivative in the spectral range 1050–1042 cm−1 correlating with white blood cell (WBC) and blast cell count in BCP-ALL patients contrary to the samples obtained from healthy controls. Although verification in larger groups of patients will be necessary, these promising results suggest that FTIR spectroscopy may have future potential for the early screening of BCP-ALL.