Liver cancer stem cell isolation and biological characteristics / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Normal stem cells and tumor stem cells have differences in cellsignaling pathway of gene expression and dependence. How to find a therapeutic method of selectively kil ing tumor stem cells is a topic that should be studied greatly. OBJECTIVE:To isolate human liver cancer stem cells MHCC97 and to investigate the biological characteristics of them. METHODS:Tumor stem cells were selected from highly metastatic human hepatoma cellline MHCC97 by flow cytometry. CD133-CD34-MHCC97 from normal human liver stem cells and CD133+CD34+MHCC97 from tumor stem cells were isolated. Their phenotypes, growth curve, cellcycle and multi-lineage differentiation were measured. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Phenotypes of CD133+CD34+MHCC97 cancer stem cells were CD133+and CD34+and they had the same growth curve and cellcycle with the liver stem cells CD133-CD34-MHCC97, besides, they had the differential ability to epithelial cells and endothelial cells that proved to be stem cells. These results indicated that human cancer stem cells CD133+CD34+MHCC97 had the specific characteristics of tumor stem cells, could differentiate into epithelial cells and endothelial cells, had the biological property of tumor stem cells, was an origin of tumor relapse and metastasis, and a target of clinical therapy.