TIRF high-content assay development for the evaluation of drug efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents against EGFR-/HER2-positive breast cancer cell lines

• Published in: Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry 2016-05, Vol.408 (12), p.3233-3238
• Main Authors: Ki, Jieun, Arumugam, Parthasarathy, Song, Joon Myong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Antibodies; Antimitotic agents; Antineoplastic agents; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Apoptosis; Biochemistry; Biological assay; Biomarkers; Biotechnology; Breast; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Cancer; Cancer cells; Cell culture; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell lines; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Dosage and administration; Drug interactions; Drug therapy; Drugs; Effectiveness; Epidermal growth factor; Female; Fluorescence; Food Science; Genes, erbB-2; Health aspects; Humans; Imaging; Laboratory Medicine; Mass spectrometry; Mathematical analysis; Medical prognosis; Methods; Microscopy; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Observations; Probes; Quantum dots; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor - metabolism; Research Paper
• ISSN: 1618-2642; 1618-2650
• DOI: 10.1007/s00216-016-9387-1

Elevated expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is reported to be associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer. EGFR subtype identification plays a crucial role in deciding the drug combination to treat the cancer patients. Conventional application of immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) produces more discordance results in EGFR subtype identification of cancer specimens. The present study is designed to develop an analytical method for simultaneous identification of cell surface biomarkers and quantitative estimation of drug efficacy in cancer specimens. For this study, we have utilized a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope (TIRFM), Qdot molecular probes and chemotherapeutic agent camptothecin (CPT)-treated breast cancer cell lines namely MCF-7, SK-BR-3 and JIMT-1. Highly sensitive detection signals with low background noise generated from the evanescent field excitation of TIRFM make it a highly suitable tool to detect the cell surface biomarkers in living cells. Moreover, single wavelength excitation of Qdot probes offers multicolour imaging with strong emission brightness. In the present study, TIRF high-content imaging system simultaneously showed the expression pattern of EGFRs and EC 50 value for CPT-induced apoptosis and necrosis in MCF-7, SK-BR-3 and JIMT-1 cancer cell lines. Graphical abstract Schematic illustration of TIRFM high-content assay development for simultaneous identification of EGFR markers and quantitative analysis of drug-induced apoptosis and necrosis in cancer cells.