Application of the CellDetect® staining technique in diagnosis of human cervical cancer

Abstract Background CellDetect® staining technique is a newly invented technique for cancer diagnosis. It easily distinguishes between normal and neoplastic cells including pre-cancer and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cells, based on staining color and morphology. In this study, application of CellDetect® staining technique was assessed in diagnosis of human cervical cancer as compared with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining in conventional slides and Thinprep cytologic test (TCT) smears. Methods The conventional slides and TCT smears of 600 patients were stained and observed while comparing with H&E staining to assess sensitivity and specificity of CellDetect® staining technique in diagnosis of cervical cancer. Conventional smear slides (440 cases) were fixed in 95% ethanol or with CYTOFIX® Spray. TCT smears (160 cases) were processed based on manual. The paraffin sections from cervical intraepithelium neoplasia (CIN) 2–3 and SCC cases were prepared by biopsy. Results CellDetect® staining exhibited well cell morphology, simultaneously, showed dual color discrimination, the stain targeted cytoplasm in normal cells in green and dysplastic cells or neoplastic cells in purple/red. Both cervical cell smears or both fixation methods in conventional slides did not affect CellDetect® staining diagnosis, especially in tissue biopsies CellDetect® staining exhibited well epithelium layers to benefit the diagnosis of CIN grade. The sensitivity and specificity of CellDetect® staining technology in diagnosing CIN and SCC were 94.34% and 88.73%, respectively. Conclusions CellDetect® staining technique provided a dual color discrimination and morphological analysis. It has the potential to become one of the most effective methods for cervical screening and early diagnosis.