Cancer diagnosis by serum autofluorescence

[Objective] To investigate differences in serum autofluorescence between healthy and cancer people and establish simple cancer screening method. [Methods] Measure serum autofluorescence spectra of healthy and cancer people with excitation wavelength of 405 nm by use of conventional fluorescence spectrophotometer, and analyze fluorescence spectrum differences between cancer and healthy people. [Results] Fluorescence peak intensities at 518 nm of lung cancer, colon cancer and breast cancer people were significantly higher than those of healthy people (P 0.004); relative fluorescence intensity T at 622 nm of lung cancer and colon cancer patients were related to background I612 (fluorescence intensity at 612 nm): in the range of 6≤I6129 (×105 a.u.), the index T of cancer patient was significantly greater than that of normal people (P 0.02); in other range there were no significant differences between them (P 0.05). The cancer diagnosis criterion was established with sensitivities of 87% and 83% for lung cancer and colon cancer respectively, and specificity of 85%. [Conclusions] Detecting serum autofluorescenc is of potentially value for screening lung cancer and colon cancer and worth studying further.