To test the different responses between tumors that are sensitive to radiation and those that are resistant to radiation, the researchers used cell lines of both resistant and sensitive tumors from human lung as well as head and neck cancers to grow tumors in mice.

After the tumors grew to a certain size, the research team removed them and scanned them with a Raman spectroscopy system. All four tumor types showed changes in response to small doses, meant to replicate clinical radiation therapy practice in humans, given over the course of two weeks.


The researchers also found consistent changes in lipid and collagen content in both lung, and head and neck tumors.

For the second part of the experiment, the research team examined untreated lung tumors. Raman spectroscopy provided data that allowed the research team to distinguish between radiation-resistant and radiation-sensitive tumors, thus providing key insight into the roles different molecules may play in making tumors resistant to radiation.

The research team found subtle differences in each tumor type's spectrographic signature; by analyzing these patterns, the researchers created an algorithm that could identify radiation resistance and sensitivity with a 97 percent success rate.

"This is only the first step of a larger research endeavor to determine how head and neck cancer tumors respond to radiation," says Barman. "The ultimate goal is to build a miniature probe that can fit into a laryngoscope. Hopefully in the future, then, when a clinician performs an endoscopy and looks at a patient's cancerous tumor, they'll be able to determine whether that tumor will even respond to radiation therapy, and that can improve treatment plans."

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