Expression of nestin, CD133 and ABCG2 in relation to the clinical outcome in pediatric sarcomas

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Zambo, Iva^{a; d} | Hermanova, Marketa^a | Zapletalova, Danica^b | Skoda, Jan^{b; c; d} | Mudry, Peter^b | Kyr, Michal^{b; d} | Zitterbart, Karel^b | Sterba, Jaroslav^b | Veselska, Renata^{b; c; d; *}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Pathological Anatomy, Medical Faculty, Masaryk University and St. Anne's University Hospital, Brno, Czech Republic | [b] Department of Pediatric Oncology, Medical Faculty, Masaryk University and University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic | [c] Laboratory of Tumor Biology, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic | [d] International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Renata Veselska, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, 61137 Brno, Czech Republic. Tel.: +420 549 49 7905; Fax: +420 549 49 5533; E-mail:veselska@sci.muni.cz

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Nestin, CD133 and ABCG2 are recently discussed as putative markers, co-expression of which might determine a cancer stem cell (CSC) phenotype in sarcomas. OBJECTIVE: Our study is focused on immunohistochemical analysis of nestin, CD133 and ABCG2 expression in rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma. Furthermore, we also analyzed the possible correlation of nestin, CD133 and ABCG2 expression levels with the patient outcome to identify potential prognostic values of these three putative CSC markers in the same cohorts. METHODS: Using immunohistochemistry, expression of nestin, CD133 and ABCG2 was analyzed in 24 rhabdomyosarcoma, 22 Ewing sarcoma and 10 osteosarcoma tissue samples and expression levels of these markers were correlated with clinical outcome. RESULTS: High nestin levels indicate poor prognosis in patients with Ewing sarcoma (P = 0.001), and high CD133 expression is associated with shorter survival in rhabdomyosarcoma patients (P = 0.002). In contrast, no significant relationship was found between ABCG2 expression and the clinical outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis represents the first complex study of these three putative CSCs markers together in three different types of pediatric sarcomas and showed their possible prognostic values in these tumors.

Keywords: Rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, osteosarcoma, cancer stem cell markers, prognosis

DOI: 10.3233/CBM-160623

Journal: Cancer Biomarkers, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 107-116, 2016