Research Article The Potential of the Quick Detection of Selectins Using Raman Spectroscopy to Discriminate Lung Cancer Patients from Healthy Subjects Edyta Wolny-Rokicka , 1,2 Andrzej Tukiendorf, 3 Jerzy Wydma´ nski, 4 and Agnieszka Zembro´ n-Lacny 2 1 Department of Radiotherapy, Provincial Multidisciplinary Hospital in Gorz´ ow Wielkopolski, ul Dekerta 1, 66-400 Gorz´ ow Wielkopolski, Poland 2 Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Zielona G´ ora, ul. Zyty 28, 65-046 Zielona G´ ora, Poland 3 Social Medicine Department, Medical University in Wrocław, ul. Bujwida 44, 50-345 Wrocław, Poland 4 Department of Radiotherapy, Center of Oncology-Maria Skłodowska-Curie Memorial Institute, Branch in Gliwice, ul. Wybrze˙ za Armii Krajowej 15, 44-101 Gliwice, Poland Correspondence should be addressed to Edyta Wolny-Rokicka; edyta.wolny@gmail.com Received 14 July 2018; Accepted 26 August 2018; Published 3 October 2018 Academic Editor: Jose S. Camara Copyright © 2018 Edyta Wolny-Rokicka et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. is study aimed at determining the concentration of P-selectins in lung cancer patients in different stages and healthy subjects. en, the ability of the methodology developed to discriminate the existence of lung cancer was also evaluated. Serum spectra were obtained using Raman spectroscopy (RS). Blood samples were taken from subjects divided into two groups: group 1—comparing data from 22 patients clinically diagnosed with cancer before versus after medical intervention; group 2—comparing data from 10 palliative patients versus 17 healthy volunteers. e RS analysis of the samples revealed the presence of five very similar peaks in both groups 1 and 2. is leads to the conclusion that a medical intervention in cancer cases gives results comparable to those obtained from healthy subjects. e study indicates that the use of Raman spectroscopy can produce a better classification of cancer patients. However, diagnostically the results have not been statistically significant, probably due to the limited number of samples gathered. A larger number of samples would be required for future verification. 1. Introduction P-selectin is a molecule which belongs to the selectin family together with P-platelets, E-endothelials, and L-leukocytes. It is stored in the granules and the endothelial cell—the Weibel–Palade bodies on platelets. It is a cell adhesion molecule present on the surface of an activated vascular endothelial cell, which is responsible for the interaction of the inner layer of blood vessels with activated thrombocytes [1–4]. e physiological functions of selectins in the pro- cesses of inflammation, immune response, wound repair, and homeostasis have been described before [5]. P-selectin, in particular, is an important disease marker as it plays an essential role in many inflammatory processes including cancer, coronary artery disease, stroke, and diabetes [6, 7]. is molecule is stored on the cell surface of the endothelial cell and platelets, and after rapid endothelium stimulation (e.g., by thrombin, histamine, and reactive oxidized sub- stances), P-selectin is translocated on the surface of the endothelial cell. It was recognized that P-selectin may be a candidate involved in the metastatic process [8–10]. ere are studies reporting that P-selectin plays a functional role in metastasis formation in breast, colon [11, 12], and lung cancers [10, 13]. ere was a study which explained a deeper role of P-selectin. e study showed that after the removal of the cell surface mucin from tumor cells in the lungs of mice (in the absence of P-selectin), a reduction of metastasis can be observed [8]. In several laboratory studies, P-selectin is described as a potential candidate for biomarkers whose higher concentration is presented and involved in the Hindawi Journal of Spectroscopy Volume 2018, Article ID 7843208, 5 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/7843208