Co-expression of putative cancer stem cell markers CD44 and CD133 in Iranian prostate carcinomas: A tissue microarray analysis

Background:Based on valuable role of putative cancer stem cell markers CD44 and CD133 to identify the potential prostate CSCs and controversial expression level of putativecancer stem cell markers CD44 and CD133 in prostate tumors.Current study was conducted to evaluate the co-expression level and clinical correlation of these markers in a series of Iranian prostate tissues. Materials and methods A total of 155 prostate tissues composed of prostate cancer (PCa), high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN), and benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) which were included in Tissue microarray (TMA)immunohistochemicaly examined for the expression of CD44 and CD133. The correlation of both CSC markers expression with clinicopathological parameters was also assessed. Results: The positive expression of CD44 was observed in 60.3% of PCa specimens. The higher level of CD44 expression was more often seen in PCa cases with low Gleason score and TNM stage (P = 0.029 and P= 0.086), while there was no significant correlation between CD133 expression and clinicopathological parameters.In parallel, the co-expression of CD44 and CD133 (CD44+/CD133+ phenotype) wassignificantly displayed in PCa cases with low to moderate Gleason score (P=0.046). The positive expression of CD133 was observed in 46.2% of PCa specimens.There was no significant correlation between CD133 expression and clinicopathological parameters. Conclusion: These findings suggest that Immunohistochemical analysis of CD44 and CD133 expression was in parallel with combined analysis, which demonstrated that CD133 may not be a suitable cancer stem cell marker in PCa, while its co expression withCD44 could be correlated with Gleason score of PCa.Thus utilization of these markers as potential avenues of progression in new therapeutic strategies for human prostate cancer may only be achieved by further investigation.

Keywords:

cancer stem cell , CD34 , CD133 , prostatic carcinoma