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Decoding Dementia from Sweat: A Proof-of-Concept Label-Free Raman Fingerprinting of EVs
Din AU, Sharma S, Mannerkorpi M, Aryapour E, Saarakkala S, Krüger J, Ali N.. medRxiv, 2026-10-01
Topic: Plasma and spinal-fluid biomarkers
Dementia is a major global health challenge; however, current diagnostic approaches often rely on invasive or costly procedures. Non-invasive molecular approaches using Raman spectroscopy and sweat-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) may provide an accessible strategy for characterizing dementia-associated molecular changes. To determine whether Raman spectral profiling of sweat EVs can discriminate individuals with dementia from cognitively healthy controls (HC) and distinguish between Alzheimer disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) including the assessment of a sex-specific spectral signatures. This proof-of-concept cross-sectional study included 88 participants: 26 HC, 37 patients with AD, and 25 patients FTD, comprising female and male participants. Sweat EVs were isolated from sweat patches and characterized using Raman spectroscopy. Differences in Raman spectral signatures between groups and diagnostic performance assessed by receiver operating characteristic analysis. Distinct Raman spectral fingerprints were identified in sweat EVs from dementia patients compared with HC. Participant-level Raman classification discriminated dementia patients from HC with an AUC of 0.76 in the full cohort and 0.83 in a balanced sensitivity analysis. Distinct spectral differences were also observed between AD and FTD, achieving modest classification performance of 0.73 AUC. Sex-stratified analyses further revealed Raman spectral heterogeneity between diagnostic groups, highlighting additional molecular differences that were not observed in the overall cohort. These findings provide proof-of-concept evidence that Raman spectroscopy of sweat EVs can identify dementia-associated molecular signatures potentially related to differences in protein, lipid, and metabolic composition. Furthermore, Raman profiling showed modest ability to differentiate AD from FTD. As a non-invasive approach, our strategy may represent a promising platform for molecular characterization of dementia, warranting validation in larger longitudinal cohorts.
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APA 7th
Din, A. U., Sharma, S., Mannerkorpi, M., Aryapour, E., Saarakkala, S., Krüger, J., et al. (2026). Decoding Dementia from Sweat: A Proof-of-Concept Label-Free Raman Fingerprinting of EVs. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.25.26364001
Vancouver
Din AU, Sharma S, Mannerkorpi M, Aryapour E, Saarakkala S, Krüger J, et al. Decoding Dementia from Sweat: A Proof-of-Concept Label-Free Raman Fingerprinting of EVs. medRxiv. 2026. doi:10.64898/2026.09.25.26364001.
BibTeX
@article{din2026-15cc7548,
author = {Din, A. U. and Sharma, S. and Mannerkorpi, M. and Aryapour, E. and Saarakkala, S. and Krüger, J. and Ali, N.},
title = {{Decoding Dementia from Sweat: A Proof-of-Concept Label-Free Raman Fingerprinting of EVs}},
journal = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.25.26364001},
url = {https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.25.26364001}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- Distinct Raman spectral fingerprints were identified in sweat EVs from dementia patients compared with HC.
- Sex-stratified analyses further revealed Raman spectral heterogeneity between diagnostic groups, highlighting additional molecular differences that were not observed in the overall cohort.
- These findings provide proof-of-concept evidence that Raman spectroscopy of sweat EVs can identify dementia-associated molecular signatures potentially related to differences in protein, lipid, and metabolic composition.
Study details
- Study designcross-sectional
- Participants88
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 16/100
Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed. It scored 37 on the same rubric, but non-peer-reviewed sources are capped at 16, so it shows as 16. Scored zero for effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 23 of the 62 points we could judge it on, which is 37 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 2 / 10 | Tier 4 — not a peer-reviewed journal (medRxiv) |
| Journal's citation record | 0 / 4 | Not a journal article, so the journal's record does not count |
| Study design | 4 / 12 | A snapshot of people at one point in time |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 4 / 10 | Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed. Hosted on a preprint server. |
| How recent | 5 / 5 | 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 88 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 1 / 2 | Not in PubMed, but has a DOI |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 23 / 62 | Scored on 12 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 23 of the 62 points we could judge it on is 37 out of 100. |
| Total | 37 / 100 | Capped to 16 because this is not a peer-reviewed article. |
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