ONCOmmunity

Cancer Stem Cell Marker in Circulating Tumor Cells: Expression of CD44 Variant Exon 9 Is Strongly Correlated to Treatment Refractoriness, Recurrence and Prognosis of Human Colorectal Cancer.

By: Shigeru Katoh, Takanori Goi, Takayuki Naruse, Yuki Ueda, Hidetaka Kurebayashi, Toshiyuki Nakazawa, Youhei Kimura, Yasuo Hirono, Akio Yamaguchi

First Department of Surgery, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan.
2015-1-1; doi:

Abstract

Background/aim

The expression of the CD44 variant exon 9 (CD44v9) was investigated in order to elucidate its significance for cancer stem cells in circulating human colorectal cancer cells (CTCs).

Materials

After peripheral blood was drawn from patients with colorectal cancer, CTCs were collected. Using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction method, we examined the relationship between expression of CD44v9 mRNA and prognosis.

Results

In 60 out of 150 patients with colorectal cancer, expression of CD44v9 mRNA was positive in CTCs. In patients with stage III disease, the 5-year survival rate was 89% for patients with negative CD44v9 expression, whereas it was 52.4% in patients with positive expression (p<0.05). In patients with stage IV unresectable cancer, the 2-year survival rate was 70.1% in cases with CD44v9-negative expression and 33.3% in cases of positive expression (p<0.05).

Conclusion

CD44v9 mRNA in the CTCs of colorectal cancer is useful as a factor predicting recurrence, prognosis, and treatment efficacy.