Background/aims: Recently, it has been proved that colorectal carcinoma is created and propagated by a small number of undifferentiated tumorigenic CD133+ cells. The present study examined the CD133 gene expression in colorectal carcinomas we surgically removed.
Methodology: The CD133 gene expression in primary tumors and corresponding normal tissues derived from 30 patients with colorectal carcinoma was examined using a quantitative reverse-transcription PCR (QRT-PCR) and evaluated the correlation between the CD133 gene expression levels and the clinicopathological findings.
Results: An increase in CD133 expression scores was observed in Dukes A's colorectal carcinomas (1.70 +/- 2.28) compared to Dukes B and C's colorectal carcinomas (0.76 +/- 0.71) (p = 0.0860). An increase in CD133 expression scores was also observed in female colorectal carcinomas (1.29 +/- 1.56) compared to male colorectal carcinomas (0.61 +/- 0.57) (p = 0.125).
Conclusions: CD133 gene overexpression in early colorectal cancer patients was more frequently observed than in advanced cases.