ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To isolate CD133(+)/CD44(+)/ESA(+) subsets cells from SW480 colon cancer cells, and to observe the tumor formation.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>CD133(+)/CD44(+)/ESA(+) subsets cells, CD133(-)/CD44(+)/ESA(+) subsets cells and CD133(-)/CD44(-)/ESA(-) subsets cell were sorted by flow cytometry from SW480 colon cancer cells, then three subsets were separately inoculated in five NOD/SCID mice and the growth rates were calculated.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The proportion of CD133(-)/CD44(-)/ESA(-), CD133(-)/CD44(+)/ESA(+) and CD133(+)/CD44(+)/ESA(+) subsets cells in SW480 cells were (86.38±10.23)%,(1.26±0.28)% and(0.38±0.07)%. After inoculation, tumor nodules could be formed three days later in CD133(+)/CD44(+)/ESA(+) group, and they could be formed 9 days later in CD133(-)/CD44(+)/ESA(+) group, while they could be formed 15 days later in CD133(-)/CD44(-)/ESA(-) group. Eighteen days later, tumor sizes in three groups were(13.82±5.04) mm(3), (9.25±4.57) mm(3) and (4.76±3.92) mm(3) respectively, and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>ESA(+)-CD44(+) is one of the surface markers for colonic cancer stem cells, and CD133(+)-CD44(+)-ESA(+) cells are SW480-like cancer stem cells.</p>