“…The cell surface marker CD133, a member of the cell membrane protein superfamily, was used to identify TICs as a specific marker in such solid tumors as a brain tumor (Singh et al, 2003;Singh et al, 2004), hepatocellular carcinoma (Suetsugu et al, 2006;Yin et al, 2007), pancreatic cancer (Hermann et al, 2007), prostate cancer (Collins et al, 2005), colon cancer (O'Brien et al, 2007;Ricci-Vitiani et al, 2007), and lung cancer (Eramo et al, 2008). Purified CD133 + TICs from these DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7314/APJCP.2014.15.1.161 Molecular Beacon Monitoring of microRNAs in Lung Adenocarcinoma-initiating A549 Cells cancers showed the potential of self-renewal capacity, differentiation, and proliferation and had the capability to form tumors in immunodeficient mice (Collins et al, 2005;Suetsugu et al, 2006;O'Brien et al, 2007). The CD133 + cells from fresh lung tumor samples were also found to have tumor-initiating properties in both small cell and non-small cell lung cancers (Eramo et al, 2008).…”