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BACKGROUND@#Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a highly aggressive malignancy characterized by rapid growth, early metastasis and acquired therapeutic resistance, and the prognosis is extremely poor. Studies have proved that the stem cell marker CD44 is correlated with tumor recurrence and treatment resistance, however, there are limited reports yet concerning on the CD44 expression and its clinical prognostic significance in SCLC patients. The purpose of this study is to investigate the expression of CD44 in tumor tissues as well as serum of SCLC patients and explore its correlation with the clinical characteristics, therapeutic effect and prognosis.@*METHODS@#The tumor tissues and serum samples of 47 newly diagnosed SCLC patients were collected. Immunohistochemistry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were applied to detect CD44. The relationship between CD44 level and the clinical characteristics as well as prognosis of the patients was analyzed.@*RESULTS@#The stem cell marker CD44 was detectable both in serum sample and tumor tissue of SCLC patients. The positive rate of CD44 in tumor tissue was significantly higher in patients with performance status (PS) 2 than that of patients with PS 0-1 (85.71% vs 30%, P=0.017). Patients were divided in to different groups according to the treatment efficacy. The CD44 immunohistochemical score and serum level in the disease progression group were significantly higher than those in the disease control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P=0.006, P=0.034), Univariate analysis depicted that the progression-free survival (PFS) of CD44 positive patients was significantly shorter than that of CD44 negative patients (5.23 mon vs 9.03 mon, P=0.036).@*CONCLUSIONS@#The positive expression of CD44 in tumor tissues of pre-treatment SCLC patients is correlated with poor PFS. The clinical significance of CD44 is worthy to be further studied.
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Background: Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is the most frequent biliary tract cancer, with high morbidity and poor prognosis, and shows early metastasis and invasiveness. No reliable biomarkers are available for detection of GBC progression. Aim: To investigate the immunohistochemical expression of Oct-4 and CD133 in malignant and nonneoplastic lesions of gallbladder and to analyze the clinical significance of the expressions related to clinicopathological parameters. Settings and Design: This is a prospective case control study, conducted in medical college background. Materials and Methods: A total of 103 cases of gallbladder were grouped into malignant lesions (n = 48) and nonneoplastic lesions (simple epithelial hyperplasia; n = 35 and chronic cholecystitis; n = 20). All tissue samples were evaluated for expression of Oct-4 and CD133 using immunohistochemistry in an effort to elucidate the correlation between their expressions with clinicopathological parameters. Statistical Analysis: The final score was calculated by multiplying the intensity to the percentage of positive cells. The scores ?2 were considered as positive. Results: Significant positive correlation of higher expression levels of Oct-4 and CD133 were observed in malignant as compared to nonneoplastic lesions of gallbladder (P < 0.0001). High expression of Oct-4 and CD133 were significantly associated with tumor grading (Oct-4, P = 0.04; CD133, P = 0.02), staging (Oct-4, P = 0.03; CD133, P = 0.02), and liver metastasis (Oct-4, P = 0.01; CD133, P = 0.007). Significantly reduced survival was observed with high expression of Oct-4 (P = 0.002). No significant correction was observed between CD 133 and survival. Conclusion: This study revealed that high expression level of Oct-4 may provide a new insight for the prognosis of the disease in terms of clinical staging and grade.
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Cells with a unique capacity for self-renewal and potency are called stem cells. With appropriate biochemical signals stem, cells can be transformed into desirable cells. Regeneration of oral and maxillofacial structures is earned out by using stem cell therapy, and this has gained momentum in recent days. Future tissues like tissue engineered bone grafts, engineered joints and cranial sutures can be developed with stem cell therapy. We have described the properties, types and advantages of dental stem cells. Emphasis is been given to the possibilities of stem cell therapy in the oral and maxillofacial region including regeneration of tooth and craniofacial defects.
Subject(s)
Dentistry/methods , Humans , Oral Surgical Procedures/methods , Regeneration/physiology , Stem Cells/cytology , Stem Cells/transplantation , Stem Cell Transplantation , Surgery, Oral/methods , Tooth/cytology , Tooth/physiology , Tooth/surgeryABSTRACT
Objective To separate the CD133 + subpopulation in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and investigate the tumorigenicity.Methods The human liver cancer tissues were subcutaneously transplanted into nude mice to generate xenograft tumors which were then isolated to prepare single cell suspension.The expression of CD133 + subpopulation was further detected using flow cytometry.The CD133 + subpopulations were separated and depurated with magnetic-activated cell sorting system.Immunofluorescence was performed to identify the histological phenotype of CD133 + subpopulation.The in vitro and in vivo clone formation assay and in vivo xenograft formation assay were performed, respectively.Results Flow cytometry analysis revealed that a percentage of (4.1 ± 0.6) ％ CD133 + cells were detected in xenografts.Immunofluorescence studies showed that (86.8 ± 7.5) ％ of the isolated cells were CD133 +.Compared with CD133-population, CD133 + cells showed a higher capability to generate clone sphere in vitro and a higher tumorigenicity in nude mice (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The CD133 + subpopulation in human hepatocellular carcinoma had a potent tumorigenicity and was enriched in cancer stem cells.
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Now that the cancer stem cell (CSC) theory has been verified for many scholars.The key to the identification of CSC is to find specific stem cell surface markers.The study of colorectal CSC continues to show progress.In recent years,many stem cell markers were discovered,such as CD44,SOX9,ALDH1,OCT-4 and so on.This article will discuss the relationship between those makers and colorectal cancer.
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BACKGROUND/AIMS: Doublecortin and CaM kinase-like-1 (DCAMKL1) is a marker of stem cells expressed predominantly in the crypt base in the intestine. However, DCAMKL1-positive cells have been shown to be differentiated tuft cells rather than quiescent progenitors. Tuft cells are the only epithelial cells that express cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) in the normal intestinal epithelium. We previously generated Cdx2-transgenic mice as model mice for intestinal metaplasia and gastric carcinoma. In the current study, we investigated the association between COX-2 and DCAMKL1 in gastric carcinoma. METHODS: We examined the association between COX-2 and DCAMKL1 expression in gastric carcinomas in clinical samples (early gastric well-differentiated adenocarcinoma) and Cdx2-transgenic mice; and the DCAMKL1-transgenic mouse stomach using immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: The COX-2-expressing cells were scattered, not diffusely expressed, in gastric carcinomas from humans and Cdx2-transgenic mice. DCAMKL1-positive cells were also scattered in the gastric carcinomas, indicating that tuft cells could still be present in gastric carcinoma. COX-2 was expressed in DCAMKL1-positive tuft cells in Cdx2- and DCAMKL1-transgenic mouse stomachs, whereas the Sox9 transcription factor was ubiquitously expressed in gastric carcinomas, including COX-2-positive cells. CONCLUSIONS: COX-2 is expressed in DCAMKL1-expressing quiescent tuft cells in gastric carcinoma.