Development of breast cancer treatment that applies real-time visualization technology by cancer-specific fluorescent probe

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25830102
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Tumor diagnostics
• Research Institution: National Hospital Organization, Kyushu Cancer Center
• Principal Investigator: AKIYOSHI Sayuri 独立行政法人国立病院機構(九州がんセンター臨床研究センター), その他部局等, その他 (50567360)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: gGlu-HMRG / 蛍光法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We previously developed γ-glutamyl hydroxymethyl rhodamine green (gGlu-HMRG) as a tool to detect viable cancer cells, based on the fact that the enzyme γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT) is overexpressed on membranes of various cancer cells, but is not expressed in normal tissue. Cleavage of the probe by GGT generates green fluorescence. Here, we examined the feasibility of clinical application of gGlu-HMRG during breast-conserving surgery. We found that fluorescence derived from cleavage of gGlu-HMRG allowed easy discrimination of breast tumors, even those smaller than 1 mm in size, from normal mammary gland tissues, with 92% sensitivity and 94% specificity, within only 5 min after application. We believe this rapid, low-cost method represents a breakthrough in intraoperative margin assessment during breast-conserving surgery.

Free Research Field

乳腺外科