CD133 expression in circulating tumor cells from breast cancer patients: Potential role in resistance to chemotherapy

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2013 papers

Abstract

CD133 has been associated with cell properties such as self renewal, migration and vasculogenic mimicry, potentially involved in generation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs). We characterized CD133 expression in CTCs of 98 nometastatic breast cancer (BC) patients. CTCs were isolated by immunomagnetic techniques using magnetic beads labeled with a multicytokeratin(CK)-specific antibody (CK3-11D5) and CTCs and CD133 detection through immunocytochemical methods. CK(+) /CD133(+) CTCs were identified in 65% of patients at baseline and 47.8% after systemic therapy (p = 0.53). Correlation of CD133 status in CTCs with classical clinicopathological characteristics and response to therapy was performed. Her2 not amplified and low Ki-67 index were positively correlated with presence of CK(+) /CD133(+) CTCs. Before any treatment, CK(+) /CD133(+) CTCs were more frequently isolated in patients with luminal BC subtype. No statistically significant differences were found between proportion of CK(+) /CD133(+) CTCs and BC subtypes after systemic therapy, implying a relative enrichment of CK(+) /CD133(+) CTCs in triple negative and HER2-amplified tumors. While CK(+) /CTCs decreases after chemotherapy when analyzing the whole population, CK(+) /CD133(+) CTCs were enriched in post-treatment samples in nonluminal BC subtypes. These findings suggest the potential role of CD133 as a promising marker of chemoresistance in nonluminal BC patients. Further prospective studies and extensive preclinical modeling will be needed to confirm whether CD133 is a marker of resistance to chemotherapy, and its role as a target for novel anticancer therapies targeting cancer stem cells and tumor vasculature.

Related Papers

• Pilot Study and Clinical Prognosis Significance of Vasculogenic Mimicry in Leiomyosarcoma(2009)
• Morphologic observation and animal experimental model of vasculogenic mimicry(2004)
• Study on vasculogenic mimicry in xenografts of human osteosarcoma cells in nude mice(2008)
• Study of the expressions of HIF-1α,VEGF,p53 and CD31 on vasculogenic mimicry in the melanoma transplant tumour(2008)
• → Vasculogenic mimicry and hepatocellular carcinoma(2010)