A method for detecting a presence of an abnormal component in a keratin sampletaken from a subject suffering from a pathological state comprising the stepsof : a) exposing the keratin sample to a swelling substance so as to penetrate thekeratin sample thereby producing a derived chemical substance b) obtainingdata from the derived chemical substance c) comparing the data obtained fromthe derived chemical substance with a second group of data contained in a referencedatabase so as to identify the presence of the abnormal component in the keratinsample whereby detection of the abnormal component is consistent with a presenceof the pathological state in the subject.
