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Characteristics Analysis of SP and CD133+ Cells in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Lines
Kan Chen1, Xue-Jun Tian1, Xing-Hua Chen2, Xiao-Yuan Jia1, Cheng Qian1, Gong-Chu Li 1*
1Xinyuan Institute of Medicine and Biotechnology, College of Life Science, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China;2Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Xingguo County, Xingguo 342400, China
Abstract: Recent studies showed that a small population with stem cell functions exists in some cultured liver cancer cell lines. Some studies suggested that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) stem cells are enriched in side population(SP)， whereas some other studies found that CD133 is a marker for HCC stem cells. By FACS analysis， SP cells and CD133+ cells in three human HCC cell lines (Hep3B、Huh-7 and PLC/PRF/5)were examined. In vitro proliferation， phenotypic characteristics， and drug resistance of these cells were further analyzed. Result showed that various levels of SP and CD133+ cells were existed in HCC cell lines， and the majority of SP cells showed CD133+ phenotype. SP cells expressed CK7 and CK19， but not AFP， whereas CD133+ cells expressed AFP and CK19， but not CK7. Both SP and CD133+ cells contained higher proliferation ability than their counterparts. Furthermore， a highest level of drug resistance was observed in SP cells. Those findings supported the conclusion that SP and CD133+ cells showed varied biological characteristics， suggesting that they might be differentiated in diverse pathways.
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