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Background: Telomere is essential for chromosomal stability and its length has been proven to be related to prognosis in many malignant tumors. This study aims to investigate the relevance of telomere length with clinical and pathologic features and its prognostic value in colorectal cancer (CRC).Methods: Telomere status of CRC and adenoma cells were measured by telomere-specific quantitative fluorescent in situ hybridization (Q-FISH). The relative telomere length (RTL) was calculated as the mean telomere fluorescent intensity units (TFUs) in carcinoma cell divided by the TFU in cancer-associated fibroblast cell (CAF).Results: One hundred CRC patients, who were received surgery treatment during 2013 to 2014 and fifty-seven patients who underwent the examination of colonoscope and were confirmed as adenoma were enrolled. TFUs of carcinoma cell and CAF were statistically significantly lower than in adjacent mucosa cell (P=0.0079). Although there was no difference between the three kinds of adenoma cells (P=0.5457), TFU in adenoma cells was significantly lower than in CAF (P<0.0001) and independent with age. TFU and the RTL were statistically significantly lower in adenoma cells than in carcinoma (all P<0.0001). TFU of carcinoma cell in distant metastases patients were significantly lower than that without distant metastases patients (P=0.002). When cut by the median value of TFU of carcinoma cell and RTL, patients with a lower TFU or RTL had statistically significantly poorer Overall survival (OS) (

1056 Background: It is well known that microenvironment plays an important role in tumor progression so we investigated the regulatory effects of breast cancer stromal cells (BCSCs) and normal breast stromal cells (NBSCs) as microenvironment on MCF-7 mammosphere formation. Methods: MCF-7 cells were cultured in suspension to generate mammospheres. The proportion of CD44+CD24- cells was assessed by flow cytometry and the expression of Wint1, notch1, β-catenin, CXCR4, SOX2, and ALDH3A1 was detected by real-time PCR. The stromal cells were purified and identified by immumohistochemistry. BCSCs or NBSCs and MCF-7 cells were co-cultured via Transwell system, the volumes and numbers of mammospheres and the mammosphere-forming efficiency (MFE) were calculated and the expression of Wnt1, β-catenin, Notch1 were detected. Results: The proportion of CD44+CD24- cells in mammospheres and MCF-7 cells was 10.4% and 2.1% (p < 0.05), respectively. Real-time PCR analysis suggested that Wint1, notch1, β-catenin, CXCR4, SOX2, and ALDH3A1 genes in the mammosphere cells were with higher levels than MCF-7 cells by about 2.25, 2.45, 1.72, 4.68, 4.25, 5.38 fold, respectively (p < 0.01). The stromal cells purified were identified as fibroblasts by α-SMA,Vimentin and fibroblast special protein antibody via immumohistochemistry. The time of mammosphere's formation was earlier, the volumes of mammospheres were bigger, and the MFE was higher than control group. The expressions of Wnt1 in co-culture group were significantly upregulated 1.27, 3.18 folds than control group, respectively, while the β-catenin was 1.22, 1.75 folds; Notch1 was 1.31, 2.09 folds; and CXCR4 was 1.73, 2.77 folds, respectively. Conclusions: Mammosphere cells contained higher propotion of breast cancer stem cells and expressed higher levels of cancer stem cell related genes. BCSCs can promote the mammosphere-forming efficiency and upregulate the expression of cancer stem cell related genes. No significant financial relationships to disclose.