암줄기세포 표지자 CD133과 림프절 전이의 관계

Abstract

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) are characterized by a marked propensity for local invasion and cervical lymph node metastasis. CD133, being normally expressed on the surface of hematopoietic stem cells, has recently been suggested as a marker of cancer stem cells in several malignancies. However, little is known about the roles of CD133 in HNSCC. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of CD133 in tumor samples of 118 HNSCC patients, and to study a possible correlation of cancer stem cell and lymph node metastasis. The expression of CD133 was analyzed in the same paraffin embedded tissue by semiquantitative immunohistochemical staining. There were positive expression in 100% of CD133 in HNSCC. High expression of CD133 had statistically significant correlation with tumor differentiation, clinical stage and lymph node metastasis (p<0.005, p<0.05, p<0.05, respectively). These results indicate that high expression of CD133 might be predictive of more aggressive behavior in HNSCC. ---------------------------------------------------------- Key Words: CD133, Head and neck cancer, Squamous cell carcinoma, Cancer stem cell, Metastasis