Yasuteru Urano

Novel Fluorescent Probes for Identification of Liver Cancer and Pancreatic Leak

Although fluorescence imaging using indocyanine green enables highly sensitive intraoperative visualization of liver cancer through allowing visualization of disordered biliary excretion in differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and in noncancerous liver parenchyma around metastatic liver cancers, we need compensatory imaging techniques for identification of adenocarcinoma tissues during hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery. Among numerous novel fluorescent probes, γ-glutamyl hydroxymethyl rhodamine green may have the potential to play this role through rapid enzymatic reaction between the probe and γ-glutamyltranspeptidase, which is often overexpressed on the cell membrane of cancer cells. This kind of fluorescent probe based on enzymatic reactions may also be used to detect pancreatic leaks during digestive surgery and to predict the risk of development of postoperative symptomatic pancreatic fistula, which is absolutely essential to further enhance the safety of pancreatic surgery.