Original Article
Copyright ©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 21, 2014; 20(19): 5826-5838
Published online May 21, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i19.5826
Identification of biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma by semiquantitative immunocytochemistry
Hong Mu, Kai-Xuan Lin, Hong Zhao, Shu Xing, Cong Li, Fang Liu, Hai-Zhen Lu, Ze Zhang, Yu-Lin Sun, Xi-Yun Yan, Jian-Qiang Cai, Xiao-Hang Zhao
Hong Mu, Fang Liu, Yu-Lin Sun, Xiao-Hang Zhao, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China
Kai-Xuan Lin, Ze Zhang, Xiao-Hang Zhao, Center of Basic Medical Sciences, Navy General Hospital of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100048, China
Hong Zhao, Cong Li, Jian-Qiang Cai, Department of Abdominal Surgery, Cancer Institute Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China
Hai-Zhen Lu, Department of Pathology, Cancer Institute Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China
Shu Xing, Xi-Yun Yan, Key Laboratory of Protein and Peptide Pharmaceutical, National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Author contributions: Mu H and Lin KX performed the majority of the work and wrote the manuscript; Zhao H, Li C, Liu F, Lu HZ, Zhang Z, and Sun YL assisted in the experiments and data analysis; Xing S analyzed the three dimensional reconstructions; Zhao XH, Yan XY, and Cai JQ supervised this work; Zhao XH designed the study.
Supported by Grants from the National High-tech R and D Program No. 2012AA020206, the Key Project for the Infectious Diseases No. 2012ZX10002-017 and No. 2013ZX10002009-001-004, the State Key Projects for Basic Research No. 2011CB910703, the National Natural Science Foundation No. 81372591, and No. 81321091 of China and the Center for Marine Medicine and Rescue of Tsinghua University
Correspondence to: Xiao-Hang Zhao, MD, PhD, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Panjiayuan Nanli 17, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100021, China. zhaoxh@cicams.ac.cn
Telephone: +86-10-67709015 Fax: +86-10-87778360
Received: December 31, 2013
Revised: February 14, 2014
Accepted: April 5, 2014
Published online: May 21, 2014
Core Tip

Core tip: We report a novel workflow to detect potentially valuable biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We measured immunofluorescence intensity and performed statistical analyses to assess the expression of biomarkers in cell lines and patient blood samples. Furthermore, we determined the expression of biomarkers via three-dimensional reconstructions. These analyses indicated that asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR), glypican-3 (GPC3), and cytokeratin (CK) may be valuable HCC biomarkers for detecting circulating tumor cells (CTCs). In addition, the expression of ASGPR and GPC3 might correlate with patients’ prognoses, and our CTC detection method can include epithelial cell adhesion molecule- and vimentin-positive tumor cells, and will thus supplement previous studies and potentially help predict future tumor recurrence and metastasis.