RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the feasibility of using cartilage link protein of hyaluronic acid (HA-CLP) for defining the tumor boundary in a mouse model of lung carcinoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Lung carcinoma was induced in KM mice by chemical carcinogenesis. HA-CLP separated from bovine cartilage and purified by affinity chromatography was labeled with (125)I for autoradiography. Immunohistochemical analysis and Western blotting were used to examine the efficiency of HA-CLP in defining the boundaries of the lung tumors.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>With autoradiography, the clearest image of lung cancer was obtained at 2 h. With immunohistochemical method, the tumor boundary was the most clearly displayed at 2 h when the strongest signals of HA-CLP was detected; Western blotting also showed the clearest bands of HA-CLP at 2 h.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>HA-CLP has the immunogenicity of HABP, and can efficiently indicate lung tumor boundary in autoradiography and immunohistochemistry.</p>