A color discriminating broad range cell staining technology for early detection of cell transformation

BACKGROUND: Advanced diagnostic tools stand today at the heart of successful cancer treatment. CellDetect(®) is a new histochemical staining technology that enables color discrimination between normal cells and a wide variety of neoplastic tissues. Using this technology, normal cells are colored blue/green, while neoplastic cells color red. This tinctorial difference coincides with clear morphological visualization properties, mainly in tissue samples. Here we show that the CellDetect(®) technology can be deployed to distinguish normal cells from transformed cells and most significantly detect cells in their early pre-cancerous transformed state. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In tissue culture, we studied the ability of the CellDetect(®) technology to color discriminate foci in a number of two stage transformation systems as well as in a well defined cellular model for cervical cancer development, using HPV16 transformed keratinocytes. RESULTS: In all these cellular systems, the CellDetect(®) technology was able to sensitively show that all transformed cells, including pre-cancerous HPV 16 transformed cells, are colored red, whereas normal cells are colored blue/green. The staining technology was able to pick up: (i) early transformation events in the form of small type 1 foci (non-invasive, not piled up small, with parallel alignment of cells), and (ii) early HPV16 transformed cells, even prior to their ability to form colonies in soft agar. The study shows the utility of the CellDetect(®) technology in early detection of transformation events.