Expression and significance of stem cell markers in pulmonary sclerosing haemangioma

The two major types of cells of pulmonary sclerosing haemangioma (PSH) with the same origin show significant differences in morphological phenotype. Whether these differences are caused by their different differentiation status is still uncertain. The aim of this study was to analyse their differentiation status by detecting the expression of several stem cell markers in PSH.

The expression of stem cell markers was examined by using streptavidin peroxidase (SP) immunohistochemisty in 45 PSH specimens. Also, the two types of cells were, respectively, captured by laser capture microdissection (LCM) from 28 PSH specimens, and total RNA was then extracted followed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The results demonstrated that the expression rates of ABCG2, Notch1 and Notch3 in polygonal cells were significantly higher than those in cuboidal cells (P < 0.05), and the expression levels of ABCG2, Notch3 and Jagged1 in polygonal cells were clearly higher than those in cuboidal cells (P < 0.05).

The data obtained provided evidence that the two types of cells in PSH may be different in differentiation status. The differentiation difference between the two types of cells might lead to variation in their morphological phenotype.