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Effect of Heparin-Protamine Treatment on Thyroid Cancer Cell Lines
Atsushi Fushimi1,2, Hiroshi Takeyama2, Yoshinobu Manome3
1Division of Molecular Cell Biology, Core Research Facilities of Basic Science, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan fushimi@jikei.ac.jp.
Background:
Anticoagulation therapy is often used to prevent stroke in patients with thyroid cancer. However, the effects of heparin and protamine on thyroid cancer are unknown; therefore, we examined the response of thyroid cancer cell lines to heparin and protamine.
Materials And Methods:
Cytotoxic assay for heparin-protamine treatment was examined on SW1736, 8505c and 8305c cell lines.
Results:
The half-maximal inhibitory concentration of the heparin-protamine treatment was 82.1 μg/ml for the SW1736 cell line, 10.4 μg/ml for 8505c, and 17.8 μg/ml for 8305c. Each cell line expresses fibronectin, with SW1736 expressing mutant fibronectin; thus, it is possible that mutant fibronectin may prevent the antitumor effect in SW1736 cells.
Conclusion:
The SW1736 cell line did not show any antitumor effect after heparin-protamine treatment. Further research is needed on why heparin-protamine treatment does not exert an antitumor effect on SW1736 cells, and the results of this research could mean that the heparin-protamine treatment might be used to provide antitumor effects in some thyroid cancer cases.
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