ArticlePLoS pathogens2021
Raman spectroscopic analysis of skin as a diagnostic tool for Human African Trypanosomiasis.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Spectrally Silent and Optically Transparent: Clear-SiR for Deep Raman Biomolecular Sensing.ACS sensors · 2025Article
- AI-assisted identification of nonmelanoma skin cancer structures based on combined line-field confocal optical coherence tomography and confocal Raman microspectroscopy.Journal of biomedical optics · 2025Article
- Machine learning with label-free Raman microscopy to investigate ferroptosis in comparison with apoptosis and necroptosis.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Article
- γδ T cells control murine skin inflammation and subcutaneous adipose wasting during chronic Trypanosoma brucei infection.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Quantitative Assessment of Low-Dose Photodynamic Therapy Effects on Diabetic Wound Healing Using Raman Spectroscopy.Pharmaceutics · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) has been responsible for several deadly epidemics throughout the 20th century, but a renewed commitment to disease control has significantly reduced new cases and motivated a target for the elimination of Trypanosoma brucei gambiense-HAT by 2030. However, the recent identification of latent human infections, and the detection of trypanosomes in extravascular tissues hidden from current diagnostic tools, such as the skin, has added new complexity to identifying infected individuals. New and improved diagnostic tests to detect Trypanosoma brucei infection by interrogating the skin are therefore needed. Recent advances have improved the cost, sensitivity and portability of Raman spectroscopy technology for non-invasive medical diagnostics, making it an attractive tool for gambiense-HAT detection. The aim of this work was to assess and develop a new non-invasive diagnostic method for T. brucei through Raman spectroscopy of the skin. Infections were performed in an established murine disease model using the animal-infective Trypanosoma brucei brucei subspecies. The skin of infected and matched control mice was scrutinized ex vivo using a confocal Raman microscope with 532 nm excitation and in situ at 785 nm excitation with a portable field-compatible instrument. Spectral evaluation and Principal Component Analysis confirmed discrimination of T. brucei-infected from uninfected tissue, and a characterisation of biochemical changes in lipids and proteins in parasite-infected skin indicated by prominent Raman peak intensities was performed. This study is the first to demonstrate the application of Raman spectroscopy for the detection of T. brucei by targeting the skin of the host. The technique has significant potential to discriminate between infected and non-infected tissue and could represent a unique, non-invasive diagnostic tool in the goal for elimination of gambiense-HAT as well as for Animal African Trypanosomiasis (AAT).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.