Use of ATR-FTIR to screen for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients with Sustained Virologic Response

Abstract

Advanced approaches such as attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy have been developed and adopted due to the growing need for non-invasive diagnostics. This study aims to utilize ATR-FTIR spectroscopy combined with chemometric analysis to screen for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with sustained virologic response (SVR) following direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The study population included 57 individuals, comprising 21 healthy subjects, 16 cirrhotic SVR patients, and 20 HCC SVR patients. Serum samples were collected, processed, and subjected to ATR-FTIR spectral acquisition. The resulting spectra were analyzed using pre-processing techniques, i.e., baseline correction, smoothing, and normalization. Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to identify general trends in the spectral data, revealing distinct variations in the lipid and bio-fingerprint regions. Subsequently, a PCA-linear discriminant analysis (LDA) model was developed for enhanced classification, achieving an accuracy of 89.47% in distinguishing cirrhotic SVR, HCC SVR, and healthy individuals, whereas the confusion matrix created by the PCA-LDA model shows the sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 91.3% respectively. The findings demonstrate the ability of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy coupled with chemometric analysis as a non-invasive, cost-effective, and time-efficient technique for HCC screening in patients with SVR. This technique holds promise for disease management, treatment response assessment, and prognosis, offering a valuable tool in the field of liver disease diagnostics. Further studies with larger and more diverse populations are necessary to validate these results and enhance their clinical applicability.