The investigation of pathological diseases largely relies on laboratory examinations. The ability to identify and characterise cells is an essential process for clinicians to reach an accurate diagnosis and inform appropriate treatments. There is currently a gap between the advancement of scientific knowledge on cellular and molecular pathways and the development of novel techniques capable of detecting subtle cellular changes associated with disease. Biospectroscopy is the use of spectroscopy techniques to investigate biological materials. Within a biological sample, important molecules such as lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, and proteins are held together by chemical bonds; these bonds will vibrate following excitation with infrared light. By measuring the vibrational energy of each molecule present in a biological sample, a unique spectrum, known as the “molecular fingerprint” is generated. As disease-related changes in biological samples will be reflected in the molecular fingerprint, biospectroscopy is a well-placed candidate for the investigation of disease. Biospectroscopy has been gaining wider acceptance and application in the clinical setting over the past decade; however, it has yet to reach diagnostic laboratories and healthcare clinics as a routine platform for clinical assessment. Immunological disorders are complex, often demonstrating interaction across multiple molecular pathways which results in delayed diagnosis. Vibrational spectroscopy is being applied in many fields, and here we present a review of its use in cellular immunology. Potential benefits, including an enhanced definition of molecular processes and the use of spectroscopy in disease diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment response, are discussed. The translation of vibrational spectroscopic techniques into clinical practice offers rapid, noninvasive, and inexpensive methods to obtain information on the molecular composition of biological samples. The potential clinical benefits of biospectroscopy include providing a more prompt and accurate disease diagnosis, thus improving patient care and resulting in better health outcomes.

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临床环境中的振动生物光谱学：探索免疫学领域新进展的影响

病理疾病的调查很大程度上依赖于实验室检查。识别和表征细胞的能力是临床医生做出准确诊断并为适当治疗提供信息的重要过程。目前，细胞和分子途径科学知识的进步与能够检测与疾病相关的细微细胞变化的新技术的发展之间存在差距。生物光谱学是利用光谱技术来研究生物材料。在生物样品中，脂质、碳水化合物、核酸和蛋白质等重要分子通过化学键结合在一起。这些键在红外光激发后会振动。通过测量生物样品中存在的每个分子的振动能量，可以生成被称为“分子指纹”的独特光谱。由于生物样品中与疾病相关的变化将反映在分子指纹中，因此生物光谱学是疾病研究的一个很好的选择。在过去的十年里，生物光谱学在临床环境中获得了更广泛的接受和应用；然而，它尚未进入诊断实验室和医疗诊所作为临床评估的常规平台。免疫性疾病很复杂，通常表现出多个分子途径之间的相互作用，从而导致诊断延迟。振动光谱学正在许多领域得到应用，在这里我们对其在细胞免疫学中的应用进行综述。讨论了潜在的好处，包括增强分子过程的定义以及在疾病诊断、监测和治疗反应中使用光谱学。将振动光谱技术转化为临床实践提供了快速、无创且廉价的方法来获取生物样品分子组成的信息。生物光谱学的潜在临床益处包括提供更及时、更准确的疾病诊断，从而改善患者护理并带来更好的健康结果。