HPLC/MS used in cancer study

Scientists have used high performance liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) to identify the pre-therapeutic distinction between large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) and small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC).

According to a study published by the Journal of Clinical Bioinformatics and undertaken by a team at Tokyo Medical University, LCNEC is a subtype of large cell carcinoma (LCC) that is characterised by neuroendocrine differentiation, a trait shared by SCLC.

For this reason the pre-therapeutic distinction between the two has been problematic, with issues caused in clinical outcome as a result of the confusion.

The team harvest protein from the cancer foci and subjected it to HPLC/MS, with results verified through quantitative analysis.

"We identified four protein candidates preferentially expressed in LCNEC compared with SCLC," the report stated, with all belonging to cancer stem cell markers.

The team claimed that the proteomic approach via formalin fixed paraffin-embedded samples was effective to detect LCNEC, providing a basis for distinction.