Association between ALDH1+/CD133+ stem-like cells and tumor angiogenesis in invasive ductal breast carcinoma

Abstract

The growth and metastasis of tumors is dependent on angiogenesis; however, the association between tumor stem cells (TSCs) and tumor angiogenesis remains to be elucidated. The present study aimed to investigate the expression of the TSC markers aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) and cluster of differentiation 133 (CD133) in invasive ductal breast carcinoma, and identify their correlation with tumor angiogenesis. Stem-like cells from the breast tissue of 120 patients, who were diagnosed with invasive ductal breast carcinoma at The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (Zhengzhou, Henan, China) between January 2009 and December 2010, were collected by surgical resection and analyzed using immunohistochemical double staining. The expression of the vascular markers CD34, CD105 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were determined using single staining. Overall, 25.83% (31/120) of the specimens contained a large number of ALDH1+/CD133+ stem-like cells (ALDH1+/CD133+ tumor). ALDH1+/CD133+ expression is associated with microvessel density, VEGF-positive rate and estrogen receptor expression (P<0.05); however, ALDH1+/CD133+ expression was not associated with age, tumor diameter, lymph node metastasis, histological classification, progesterone receptor expression or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 expression (P>0.05). The ALDH1+/CD133+ tumor phenotype and expression of VEGF were identified to be correlated in the present study (P=0.020). The present study revealed a close association between breast cancer TSC markers, including ALDH1 and CD133, and tumor angiogenesis. The results of the present study may provide a novel target and treatment strategy for future studies investigating tumor growth and metastasis.

Overexpression of syndecan-1, MUC-1, and putative stem cell markers in breast cancer leptomeningeal metastasis: a cerebrospinal fluid flow cytometry study

“…Moreover, a close association between CD133 expression and tumor angiogenesis has been reported in invasive breast cancer [51]. Despite the small number of cases, our study documents, in a proportion of case, CD133 overexpression on CSF floating cells of BC patients, supporting the role of CD133 as a marker of poor prognosis.…”

CD133 mRNA may be a suitable prognostic marker for human breast cancer

“…Many previous studies showed that CD133 protein expression was correlated with a poor survival time of breast cancer (5,8,10). However, breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease.…”

The Expressions of Cancer Stem Cell Markers and Nonclassical HLA antigens in Breast Tumors

“…Stage IIIB: the tumor has grown into the chest wall or skin (T4), and one of the following applies: It has not spread to the lymph nodes (N0), It has spread to 1 to 3 axillary lymph nodes and/or tiny amounts of cancer are found in internal mammary lymph nodes on sentinel lymph node biopsy (N1), It has spread to 4 to 9 axillary lymph nodes, or it has enlarged the internal mammary lymph nodes (N2), The cancer hasn't spread to distant sites (M0) CD133 can also be detected in healthy cells like hematopoietic stem cells and neuronal and glial stem cells (6), so the main function of CD133 in tumor progression remains unknown. Contrary to CD44, it has been shown that CD133 is associated with tumor angiogenesis, metastasis, and poor prognosis in malignant BC patients (33)(34)(35). We found significantly increased expression of both CD44 and CD133 in the advanced-stage BC tissue compared with non-cancer breast biopsy tissues.…”