Physicochemical properties of molecule-metal conjugates as innovative anticancer drugs

by Ewa Pięta (IFJ PAN)

Thursday 29 Jun 2023, 11:00 → 13:00 Europe/Warsaw

Despite tremendous advances in medicine, cancer continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide, and treatment regimens for recurrent or persistent cancers and low-toxicity alternative treatment options are limited.
The use of conventional vibrational spectroscopy methods and their development in the form of surface-enhanced techniques allows us to look deep into the molecules and describe the physicochemical phenomena occurring at the molecule/metal interface. Advanced methods of chemical physics, including Raman spectroscopy (RS) and infrared spectroscopy (IR) together with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRA), create unlimited possibilities for their practical application in many areas of life.
The research carried out so far proves that vibrational spectroscopy methods play an invaluable role in the study of various types of biological materials at many levels of the organization. Nevertheless, it was the development of RS and IR imaging techniques that revolutionized the field of cancer research and opened up new possibilities for better monitoring of the effects of pharmacotherapy. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in single-cell imaging and the assessment of the effect of the applied substance on the biochemical processes in the cell, making it possible to identify specific spectroscopic markers of pathological changes.
During the seminar, I will demonstrate the usefulness of using combinations of an anti-cancer drug, or a potential drug, with metal nanoparticles. First, it will be necessary to take a closer look at the physicochemical phenomena occurring at the molecule/metal interface based on SERS and SEIRA techniques. The starting point will be the appropriate characterization of the vibrational structure of the studied molecules, based on experimental results (RS and IR), as well as using a theoretical approach. Finally, RS, IR, and AFM-IR imaging will be presented in light of the search for spectroscopic markers of biochemical changes occurring in cancer cells upon the drug treatment.