Expression and clinical significance of CD133 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To study the expression and clinical significance of cancer stem cell marker CD133 in hepatocellular cancer(HCC) tissues. Methods The expressiones of CD133 mRNAs extracted from human HCC tissues and paracarcinoma tissues(PT) of 25 patients were detected by RT-PCR.The relationship between CD133 and clinicopathological index was analyzed. Results The positive rate of the CD133 mRNA expression in HCC tissues was 72.0%,which was significantly higher than 4.0% in PT(P0.01).The expression of CD133 mRNA was correlated with tumor size and the expression of AFP(P0.05),but not with sex,age and tumor differentiation (P0.05).Conclusion The expression of cancer stem cell marker CD133 is related to tumorigenesis of HCC and the expression of AFP. CD133 may be a valuable marker for diagnosing and predicting the prognosis of HCC.