Identification Of Melanoma Cells Research Articles

Identification of melanoma cells: a method based in mean variance of signatures via spectral densities.

In this paper a new methodology to detect and differentiate melanoma cells from normal cells through 1D-signatures averaged variances calculated with a binary mask is presented. The sample images were obtained from histological sections of mice melanoma tumor of 4 [Formula: see text] in thickness and contrasted with normal cells. The results show that melanoma cells present a well-defined range of averaged variances values obtained from the signatures in the four conditions used.

Identification of melanoma cells and lymphocyte subpopulations in lymph node metastases by FTIR imaging histopathology

While early stages of melanoma are usually cured by surgery, metastatic melanomas are difficult to treat because the widely available options have low response rates. Careful and precise diagnosis and staging are essential to determine patient's risk and to select appropriate treatments. Fortunately, the recent progress in immunotherapy is very encouraging. In this context, it is important to characterize the intratumoral infiltration of immune cells in each patient, which is however not done routinely due to the lack of standardized methods. In this study, we used Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) imaging combined with multivariate statistical analyses to investigate non-metastatic and metastatic lymph nodes from melanoma patients. Our results show that the different cell types have different infrared spectral features allowing automated identification of these cell types. High recognition rates were obtained using a supervised partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model. Melanoma cells were recognized with 87.1% sensitivity and 85.7% specificity, showing that FTIR spectroscopy has similar detection power as immunohistochemistry. Besides, FTIR imaging could also distinguish lymphocyte subpopulations (B and T cells). Finally, we investigated the changes in lymphocytes due to the presence of metastases. Interestingly, specific features of spectra of lymphocytes present in metastatic or tumor-free lymph nodes could be evidenced by PCA. A PLS-DA model was capable of predicting whether lymphocytes originated from invaded or non-invaded lymph nodes. These data demonstrate that FTIR imaging is capable to distinguish known and also novel biological features in human tissues, with potential practical relevance for histopathological diagnosis and biomarker assessment.

Gold Nanoparticle Uptake by Tumour Cells of B16 Mouse Melanoma

Because of their photo-optical distinctiveness and biocompatibility, gold nanoparticles have proven to be powerful tools in various nanomedical applications. In this article, we discuss the advantage of gold nanoparticles in image diagnostic application of melanoma. It has demonstrated the potential role of gold nanoparticles in the study of tumour tissue architecture and the utility of gold nanoparticles in the hystopathological exam of B16 melanoma with the benefit of fluorescence emission of gold nanoparticles in UV spectrum. The optical properties of colloidal gold nanoparticles allow spectroscopic detection and identification of melanoma cells. The method proposed is easy, inexpensive and reliable for hystopathological analysis of melanoma. The fluorescence images in the cryosections of tissues depicted a strong luminescence property of gold nanoparticles uptaken in melanoma, results that confirm the role of the gold nanoparticles in biological labelling and imaging applications. To emphasize the AuNPs influence over the biological tissues, a study of the chemical bonds configuration was performed using Raman spectrometry.

Tyrosinase mRNA RT-PCR analysis as an additional diagnostic tool for the identification of melanoma cells in biological fluid samples other than blood: A preliminary report.

Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of tyrosinase mRNA has been applied for the detection of melanoma cells in the peripheral blood, lymph nodes and bone marrow of melanoma patients. We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of RT-PCR in comparison to standard cytology and immunocytochemistry (ICC) for the identification of melanoma cells in biological fluids other than blood. Tyrosinase expression was evaluated together with standard cytology and ICC (anti-S100, HMB-45 and Melan-A antibodies) in biological fluid samples collected from 17 melanoma patients according to the site of metastatic involvement or clinical suspicion (eight cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples; three pleural effusions; four ascites; one bile sample, one pericardial effusion); 17 samples collected from patients with non-melanoma metastatic cancer were used as controls. Tyrosinase expression in the biological fluid sample was compared with the expression determined at the same time in peripheral blood. Positive tyrosinase expression was found in 12/17 melanoma and 3/17 non-melanoma cancer patients. Cytology/ICC showed the presence of neoplastic cells in only 7/12 melanoma samples with positive tyrosinase expression: radiological evidence of disease involvement was found in all these patients (three meningeal, two pleural, two peritoneal). Clear-cut radiological evidence of disease involvement at the sampling site was found in the five patients with negative cytology/ICC and positive RT-PCR (one CSF; four serous membrane effusions); all patients died of disease progression within four months of sampling. The five patients who were negative for both cytology/ICC and RT-PCR did not show any clinical evidence of disease recurrence at the sampling site. Only five of the 12 metastatic patients with positive tyrosinase expression in biological fluid showed positivity for tyrosinase in the peripheral blood. These preliminary results suggest that the analysis of biological fluids other than blood could be considered as a new potential clinical field of application for the tyrosinase mRNA assay. (Int J Biol Markers 2005; 20: 11-7).

Identification of melanoma cells by formaldehyde-induced fluorescence.

We have employed the formaldehyde-induced fluorescence technique to establish the identity of cells derived from malignant melanoma and grown in tissue culture. Following exposure to formaldehyde vapor, melanoma cells exhibited specific, localized, green-yellow fluorescence which diminished in intensity with prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light. Melanoma cells which had not been exposed to formaldehyde vapor, and non-melanoma control cell lines which had been exposed to the vapor showed a faint green autofluorescence which was stable following prolonged exposure to UV light. Maintenance of melanoma cells in medium supplemented with tyrosine increased the intensity and number of cells demonstrating fluorescence. Both melanoma and non-melanoma cells grown in medium containing dopamine showed brilliant fluorescence with no apparent specificity. Although melanoma cells grown in cysteine showed decreased fluorescence, this may have been related to their impaired growth in medium containing this compound. The formaldehyde-induced fluorescence technique appears to be a simple accurate means for confirming the identity of cells which are derived from malignant melanoma and propagated in tissue culture.