Unraveling Interaction of Rhenium-188 Microspheres with Primary Hepatic Cancer Cell: A Breakthrough Study.

Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma is a prevalent contributor to global mortality rates. The main palliative treatments are trans-arterial chemoembolization and selective intra-arterial radionuclide therapy. Methods: A novel freeze-dried nonradioactive microsphere kit formulation has been developed, and the behavior and therapeutic potential of 188 Re microspheres have been assessed. The microspheres were labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and 188 ReO 4 - . The uptake of FITC microspheres by HepG2 cells was examined at various time intervals. The impact of 188 Re microspheres on cell viability and the mode of cell death were investigated with HepG2 cells using MTT and Annexin FITC-V/propidium iodide (PI) apoptosis assay. Results: The labeling efficiency of microspheres was more than 99% with FITC and 188 ReO 4 - . The maximum uptake of FITC microspheres by HepG2 cells was achieved at 6 h. The exposure to 188 Re microspheres has shown a decrease in cellular viability from 77.81% ± 0.015% to 42.03% ± 0.148% at 192 h of incubation (∼11 half-lives). The cellular uptake of 188 Re microspheres was 0.255-0.901 MBq. These values were concordant with Annexin FITC-V/PI apoptosis assay. At 192 h, 53.28% ± 0.01% of cells entered the apoptotic phase after treatment with 188 Re microspheres, and only 39.34% ± 0.02% of cells remained viable. However, in the cells treated with 188 ReO 4 - alone, 74.86% ± 0.005% of cells were viable, and only 24.75% ± 0.577% of cells were in the early apoptotic phase at 192 h. Conclusion: The data revealed that 188 Re microspheres treatment led to significant growth inhibition in HepG2 cells compared with 188 ReO 4 - .