The Role of breast cancer stem cells and some related molecular biomarkers in Metastatic and Non-metastatic breast cancer

Abstract Background Breast Cancer Stem Cells (BCSCs) play important role(s) in the development and progression of invasive duct carcinoma (IDC). We assessed the role of BCSC markers expression and the number of mammospheres in cultures of BC tissues and correlated these data to relevant clinico-pathological features of the patients and overall survival (OS). Method s: Fresh tumor tissue samples were collected from 44 Egyptian female patients with IDC of the breast and 25 normal females undergoing reduction mammoplasty as a control. The mammosphere number and the RNA expression levels of some CSCs-related genes (PTEN, PI3K, AKT, Wnt and β-catenin) were assessed by RT-PCR at different stages of BCSCs differentiation compared to normal control samples. Results The number of CD44+CD24-/low cells associated significantly at the end of culture with the expression level of Wnt, β-catenin and distant metastasis (P Conclusion BCSCs and their related genes (PTEN, PI3K, AKT, Wnt and β-catenin) play important roles in the development and progression of BC and they can be used as potential prognostic and predictive biomarkers for BC patients or as target therapy.