cytokeratin on the cell surface?

From: Frederic Preffer (preffer@helix.mgh.harvard.edu)
Date: Wed Apr 30 1997 - 16:45:04 EST


Has anyone noticed staining of cytokeratin on the cell _surface_ of
epithelial cells?

These ovarian tumor cells exclude PI, and have 'normal' forward vs side
scatter. Other  PI+ cells in the mixture stain for cytokeratin, as do some
other PI negative cells that clearly have reduced forward scatter.   I
assume both these two latter populations are nonviable or nearly so, and
might be nonspecifically staining with the anticytokeratin reagent. While i
understand PI exclusion is not foolproof for 'cell death', the absence of
PI staining and appropriate light scatter make me wonder about the
possibility of real cytokeratin expression on the cell surface of a
minority of these cells. My idea at this time is to sort out the cells and
see if they grow and maintain this surface expression. Any other
suggestions, experience or ideas?

thankyou
````````````````````````````````````````````
Dr. Frederic I. Preffer 
preffer@helix.mgh.harvard.edu
Department of Pathology- Warren 525A
100 Blossom St
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston MA 02114
 v(617) 726-7481  fax(617) 724-3164



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Apr 03 2002 - 11:49:42 EST