Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the major subtype of primary liver cancer. Although the standard treatment method based on surgery has generally extended life, it still causes the second and sixth most prevalent cancer-related death in men and women, respectively. The recurrence of cancer caused by unclear resection margins and any remaining undiscovered metastatic nodules should take a large proportion of responsibility for the poor prognosis after resective surgery. Therefore, a practical and effective method that can be used during hepatectomy to specifically identify HCC is a potentially significant area deserving attention. Tests involving fluorescence have been used in many biological systems. In this study, we use a probe that can combine with cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and subsequently emit fluorescence to identify HCC cells and heteroplastic tumors in a mouse model. The results show that this specific probe can clearly differentiate HCC, with differences that could be observed with the naked eye in human samples. The biotechnology of knocking down COX-2 and its inhibitor were used on human HCC cell line SMMC7721, and the outcomes confirmed the above results. The toxic effect also showed that the probe had no harmful effect on normal liver cells. Taken together, our study demonstrates that a COX-2-specific fluorescence probe may be a new and effective method to identify HCC, especially during surgery.
Highlights
Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common malignancies worldwide
The results show that the quantity of COX-2 was enhanced in SMMC7721 and BEL7402 cells compared to LO2 cells both at the mRNA and protein level (Fig. 1A and B)
The results were the same as that of a previous study showing that the expression of COX-2 is enhanced in most of the hepatocellular carcinoma tissue but there is no obvious increase of expression in normal liver tissue.[18]
Summary
Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. There are more than 700 000 new cases of this type of cancer discovered each year; the 5-year survival rate is less than 20%.1,2 One important reason for the poor prognosis is the difficulty in obtaining a positive surgical margin during resection. There are more than 700 000 new cases of this type of cancer discovered each year; the 5-year survival rate is less than 20%.1,2. One important reason for the poor prognosis is the difficulty in obtaining a positive surgical margin during resection. Many technologies such as positron emission tomography-computed tomography and histopathological examination of biopsies have been clinically used, there is still great difficulty in clearly distinguishing the tumor during surgery with the naked eye.[3,4] It is difficult to discover a microscopic and unimpressive metastasis, especially when it occurs at a region where resection will not occur.[5] This highlights the importance of discovering a new method that can be used during surgery to delineate the location of tumors and make it easier to nd small metastasis
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