Hepatocytes isolated from neoplastic liver-immunomagnetic purging as a new source for transplantation.

Aim: To investigate whether hepatocytes isolated from macroscopically normal liver during hepatic resection for neoplasia could provide a novel source of healthy hepatocytes, including the development of reliable protocols for malignant cells removal from the hepatocyte preparation.

Methods: Hepatocytes were procured from resected liver of 18 patients with liver tumors using optimised digestion and cell-enrichment protocols. Suspensions of various known quantities of the HT-29 tumor cell line and patient hepatocytes were treated or not with Ep-CAM-antibody-coated immunomagnetic beads in order to investigate the efficacy of tumor-purging by immunomagnetic depletion, using a semi-quantitative RT-PCR method developed to detect tumor cells.

A new peritoneal carcinomatosis model in cyclosporine immunosuppressed rats.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) cells (HT29) were injected into the intraperitoneal (i.p.) cavity of immunosuppressed male Sprague Dawley rats.