Significance of CD133 expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

BackgroundCD133 was recently reported to be a cancer stem cell marker and a prognostic marker for several tumors. However, few studies have investigated CD133 expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Therefore, we examined whether CD133 could serve as a prognostic marker of ESCC and investigated the correlation between CD133 expression and the clinicopathological findings of ESCC patients and several markers.MethodsWe studied 86 ESCC patients who underwent curative surgery without neoadjuvant treatment at Tohoku University Hospital (Sendai, Japan) between January 2000 and December 2005. We analyzed tissue specimens by immunohistochemical staining for CD133, p53, p16, p27, murine double minute 2 (MDM2), Ki-67, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).ResultsPathological tumor depth and tumor stage were significantly more advanced among CD133-negative patients than among CD133-positive patients. A log-rank test showed that CD133 immunoreactivity was significantly correlated with the overall survival of the patients (P = 0.049). However, multivariate analysis showed that it was not significantly correlated (P = 0.078). Moreover, CD133 was significantly positively correlated with p27 immunoreactivity (P = 0.0013) and tended to be positively correlated with p16 immunoreactivity (P = 0.057). In addition, p16 immunoreactivity was correlated with smoking history (P = 0.018), pathological lymph node status (P = 0.033), and lymphatic invasion (P = 0.018).ConclusionsThis study indicated that CD133 immunoreactivity is a good predictor of prognosis in ESCC patients. In addition, CD133 may play a role in the regulation of tumor cell cycle through p27 and p16 in ESCC. At present, it thus remains controversial whether CD133 expression is a valid prognostic marker for ESCC. To elucidate this relationship, further investigations are required.

Clinical and biological significance of stem-like CD133+CXCR4+ cells in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

“…Accumulated studies have reported CD133 as a marker for CSCs in various cancers. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Our data showed that CD133 þ CXCR4 þ cancer cells had a higher proliferative capacity than the other subgroups in ESCC, which is parallel to the characteristics of CSCs. 10 ( Moreover, the receptor for SDF-1, CXCR4, plays an important role in the migration and metastasis in several cancers.…”

“…It has been reported to be a marker of CSCs in the brain, colon, pancreas, prostate, liver, lung, kidney, and esophagus. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] CXCR4 is a membrane-bound receptor that selectively binds to the CXC chemokine ligand 12, which is also known as stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1). The CXC chemokine ligand 12/CXCR4 signaling pathway plays an important role in carcinogenesis, progression, and metastasis, which results in decreased overall survival (OS) and poor prognosis.…”

p53 is an independent prognostic factor in operable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a large-scale study with a long follow-up

“…Thus, assessment of the overexpression and accumulation of mutant p53 protein by immunohistochemistry has been widely used to detect abnormal p53 expression in cancers. Although several studies have examined the relationship between p53 IHC expression and prognosis in ESCC, this work is limited by the small sample size, and the results are controversial [7][8][9][10][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. We conducted a large-scale study with a long follow-up to examine p53 expression in relation to the clinicopathologic features and prognosis of ESCC.…”

Predictive value for lymph node metastasis of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cell marker expression in early gastric cancer

“…MMP7 expression was associated with favorable prognosis of malignant neoplasms of ovary and salivary gland [11,20], while in cholangiocarcinoma and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, CD133 negativity was related to advanced tumor stage and poor prognosis [4,16]. Negative Oct3/4 expression was correlated with invasion depth, lymph node metastasis, and lymphatic invasion of gastric cancer [13].…”