ABSTRACT
[Objective]To observe the biological characteristics of CD133 positive cells derived from cutaneous squa-mous cell carcinoma(cSCC),and to investigate the mechanism of self-renewal of cancer stem cells(CSC)and the malig-nant behavior in cSCC.[Methods]The flow cytometry was applied to purify CD133+cells and CD133-from cutaneous squa-mous cell carcinoma cell line Colo-16.The effects of CD133 on the cell proliferative,self renew and migratory activity of two group cells were detected by MTT assay,Sphere formation assay and Transwell assay.Western blot and quantitative flu-orescent PCR were performed to investigate the expression of cancer stem cell associated gene CD44,OCT4 and SOX2 in two groups of cells.Examined the expression level of CD133 in actinic keratosis,squamous cell carcinoma in situ and cSCC by immunohistochemistry.[Result]The CD133+Colo-16 cells exhibited significantly stronger proliferation,self-renewal and metastasis ability(P<0.05)and present higher level protein and mRNA expression on CD44,SOX2 and OCT4(P<0.05). In addition,the expression level of CD133 was dynamic rise during the continuous evolution of actinic keratosis,squamous cell carcinoma in situ and cSCC.[Conclusions]The expression level of CD133 may be related to the tumorigenesis of cSCC and the malignant behavior including proliferative,self renew and migratory activity,and CD133+cSCC cells show the properties of cancer stem cells.The occurrence and development of cSCC may be related to the CSC,which express CD133.