Abstract 4118: Expression of CD133 as a prognostic marker of non-small cell lung cancers

[Background] CD133 is a membrance glycoprotein with five transmembrance loops. Previous reports have suggested that CD133-positive subpopulation of multipotent cells with extensive proliferative and self-renewal abilities has biological features as a cancer stem cell. In addition, it has been reported that the presence of CD133-positive cells was associated with a significantly poorer prognosis compared with the CD133-negative cells in some solid tumors, including colon cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma and glioma. However, little is known about the relationship between the expression of CD133 and clinical and clinicopathological characteristics in lung cancer. [Aim and Method] We conducted immunohistochemical assessment of 161 surgically resected non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) at Hokkaido University Hospital between 1982 and 1994 to evaluate the correlation between CD133 expression and various features, including clinical and clinicopathological characteristics. [Results] Normal alveoli were used as negative controls and Bowman9s capsule basement membrane as positive controls. CD133 expression was significantly correlated with advanced p-Stage (p=0.040). The Kaplan-Meier method demonstrated that NSCLC patients with CD133 expression in tumor cells showed poor prognosis compared to those without CD133 expression in p-Stage II, III and IV (p=0.0098). CD133 expression alone was an independent factor for unfavorable prognostic in those patients (Hazard Ratio=3.157, p=0.015). [Conclusion] CD133 expression was correlated with p-Stage and was an independent factor for unfavorable prognosis in patients with p-Stage II, III and IV NSCLCs. CD133 expression may be a novel prognostic marker for NSCLCs. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4118. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-4118