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BackgroundBreast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women worldwide. Recent studies have provided strong support for the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis, which suggests that many cancers, including breast cancer, are driven by a subpopulation of cells that display stem cell-like properties. The hypothesis that a subpopulation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) possesses many CSC-like hallmarks is reinforced by the expression of related molecular markers between these two cell populations. The aim of this study is to systematically review primary studies and identify circulating CSC markers in breast cancer patients.Methods and designRelevant observational studies evaluating the expression of circulating breast cancer stem cell markers through October 31, 2016, will be searched in PubMed, SCOPUS, Embase, ISI Web of Science, and Google Scholar with no restriction on language. Full copies of articles identified by the search and considered to meet the inclusion criteria will be obtained for data extraction and synthesis. Two quality assessment tools will be used for evaluating observational studies like case control, which are the Hoy et al. suggested tool and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS), respectively. Publication bias will be assessed by funnel plots or Egger’s test (i.e., plots of study results against precision), and data synthesis will be performed using Stata software (Stata Corp V.12, TX, USA).This systematic review will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA).DiscussionDetecting cancer stem cells in blood will help clinicians to monitor cancer patients by obtaining as many samples as needed with a non-invasive method and in any stages; it is not possible to repeat sampling on working on tissue samples. By identifying cancer stem cells early in blood, it will be possible to distinguish metastasis in early stages.Systematic review registration CRD42016043810 Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13643-017-0660-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Recent studies have supported the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis, suggesting that many cancers are managed by cells possessing stem cell characters. Ganglioside GD2 has been introduced as a potential marker for breast CSCs. Synthesis of GD2 by GD2 synthase is considered to be critical for the synthesis of all complex gangliosides.

Background: One of the major mechanisms for drug resistance is associated with altered anticancer drug transport, mediated by the human-adenosine triphosphate binding cassette (ABC) transporter superfamily proteins. The overexpression of adenosine triphosphate binding cassette, sub-family B, member 1 (ABCB1) by multidrug-resistant cancer cells is a serious impediment to chemotherapy. In our study we have studied the possibility that structural single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) are the mechanism of ABCB1 overexpression. Materials and Methods: A total of 101 gastric cancer multidrug resistant cases and 100 controls were genotyped with sequence-specific primed PCR (SSP-PCR). Gene expression was evaluated for 70 multidrug resistant cases and 54 controls by real time PCR. The correlation between the two groups was based on secondary structures of RNA predicted by bioinformatics tool. Results: The results of genotyping showed that among 3 studied SNPs, rs28381943 and rs2032586 had significant differences between patient and control groups but there were no differences in the two groups for C3435T. The results of real time PCR showed over-expression of ABCB1 when we compared our data with each of the genotypes in average mode. Prediction of secondary structures in the existence of 2 related SNPs (rs28381943 and rs2032586) showed that the amount of ∆G for original mRNA is higher than the amount of ∆G for the two mentioned SNPs. Conclusions: We have observed that 2 of our studied SNPs (rs283821943 and rs2032586) may elevate the expression of ABCB1 gene, through increase in mRNA stability, while this was not the case for C3435T.

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Introduction: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are attractive for many researchers because of their diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic implications. Here, we aim to investigate the local expression of Ganglioside GD2, as the recently proposed breast CSC (BCSC) marker, through the assessment of GD2 synthase mRNA, the key enzyme involved in GD2 synthesis. Materials and Methods: Fresh tumor tissues along with normal adjacent tissues from 65 patients who underwent surgery for breast cancer were collected. Total RNAs of tumoral and normal tissue samples were extracted and analyzed using real-time PCR. The mRNA expression pattern of GD2 was compared in tumoral and control tissue samples using ΔΔCt method. The relevance of GD2 synthase level with clinical characteristics of the patients was also evaluated.

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