Author's Name:	Fadzliza Hafiza Ramli, Mudiana Muhamad, Azura Mansor, Nor Faissal Yasin, Tunku Kamarul & Sharaniza Ab Rahim
Subject Area:	Health Science
Subject	Medicine and Dentistry
Section	Research Paper

Osteosarcoma; metastasis; patients; VCAM-1; ICAM-3. biomarkers, primary cells, cell line, morphology

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a rare primary bone cancer arising among the adolescent and worsen when it metastasized. The important biomarkers involved in the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells include the cell adhesion molecules (CAMs). Therefore, this study aim to characterized the expression of CAMs proteins in metastatic OS cells isolated from OS patients. Morphological changes were observed using haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining in normal human osteoblast (NHOst), OS cell line (MG-63), non-metastatic and metastatic primary cell culture. The expression of VCAM-1 and ICAM-3 was determined by immunocytochemical (ICC) stain and western blot techniques. The H&E results showed distinct morphology differences in the four different cells respectively. Further analysis through IHC and western blot showed the expression of VCAM-1 is higher than ICAM-3 in all cancer cells (MG-63, metastatic and non-metastatic primary cells) but at different level of intensity. Nevertheless, both VCAM-1 and ICAM-3 were significantly under expressed in NHOst cells. In addition, this study has established the different characteristic of metastatic OS primary culture, non-metastatic OS primary cells and OS cell line. These findings are important for further exploration in understanding OS progression using primary cell culture instead of cell line. In conclusion, the two CAMs were expressed at different levels respective to the progressive state of OS.