Yu F, Chen L, Xu W, Cao L, Zhang Y, Shi LH, Yin ZF. Detection of circulating tumor cells in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma using an improved asialoglycoprotein receptor-based separation method.
Shijie Huaren Xiaohua Zazhi 2013;
21:858-864. [DOI:
10.11569/wcjd.v21.i10.858]
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Abstract
AIM: To introduce a novel magnetic cell separation system which allows for immunomorphological identification and enumeration of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
METHODS: The asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR) is a transmembrane protein expressed exclusively on the surface of hepatocytes. We have recently developed a sensitive and specific system mediated by the interaction of the ASGPR with its ligand to magnetically separate CTCs in HCC patients. In the system, HCC cells were bound by biotinylated asialofetuin, an ASGPR ligand, and subsequently labeled by anti-biotin antibody-coated magnetic beads, followed by magnetic separation. The separated HCC cells were then identified by immunofluorescence staining using the hepatocyte-specific antibody Hep Par 1. In this study, we used EDTA instead of heparin for anticoagulation because heparin could cause the presence of gels in cell suspension, which affected the passage of cells through the separation column and reduced the separation efficiency. The recovery, specificity and sensitivity of the HCC CTC separation and detection system were determined by performing Hep3B cell spiking experiments.
RESULTS: Calcium chelating agent EDTA was used for anticoagulation instead of heparin in some steps of the original method and gel phenomenon no longer appeared in the cell suspension. The cell spiking experiments showed that when there were 10, 30, 90, 270 and 810 Hep3B cells spiked into five milliliters of peripheral blood from healthy volunteers, the average recovery was ≥ 70% at each spiking level and the recovery of the modified method was higher than that of the original method (P < 0.05).
CONCLUSION: We have developed a new tool that allows for highly sensitive and specific separation and detection of CTCs in HCC patients. It may be clinically useful for diagnosis and monitoring of HCC. The cell spiking experiments showed that the recovery of the modified method was higher than that of the original method.
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