Journal des biomarqueurs moléculaires et du diagnostic

Diagnostic Values of a Progenitor Cell Marker CD133 Expression in Various Types of Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Kevin J Zhang, Satyum R Parikh, Nava Sigelmann-Danieli, Jason M Hafron, James L Liu, John D Schwartz, Mitual B Amin, Zhenhong Qu and Ping L Zhang

Background: The role of stem tumor cell involvement in tumorigenesis and partial resistance to chemotherapy has been established in recent years. However, diagnostic value using stem cell markers in various malignant neoplasms is not well addressed. In the current study, we compared CD133, a membranous stem cell marker, in several types of adenocarcinoma originating in colon, breast and kidney tissues, in order to determine whether expression pattern may be useful for diagnosis and differential diagnosis of varying tumors.

Methods: Paraffin embedded control and tumor sections (35 from colon, 40 from breast and 64 from kidneys) were immunohistochemically stained for CD133 using an autostainer. All membranous stains of CD133 were graded from negative (0) to 3+.

Results: In the colon, benign glands showed minimal staining (+/-) for CD133, but CD133 expression was 2+ to 3+ strong in all invasive adenocarcinoma of colon. In the kidney, unremarkable renal tubules were also minimally (+/-) positive for CD133 but the CD133 was strongly expressed in clear cell papillary renal cell carcinoma (CCPRCC) (24/24) in contrast to its focal and weak expression in conventional clear cell renal cell carcinoma (2/20). In the breast, CD133 showed 2+ to 3+ strong expression in both benign glands and invasive ductal carcinoma.

Conclusion: Our data indicate that CD133 expression patterns can be used for supporting a diagnosis of colonic adenocarcinoma, and differentiate CCP-RCC from conventional clear cell RCC, but is likely not useful in distinguishing breast carcinoma from its benign counterpart.