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[Effect of CD133(+) cells on the radiosensitivity of rectal cancer cells]
Jianming Qiu1, Guangen Yang1, Zhong Shen1
1Department of Coloproctology, the Third People's Hospital of Hangzhou, Hangzhou 310009, China.
Objective:
To investigate the effect of CD133(+) cells on radiosensitivity of rectal cancer cells.
Methods:
In vitro experiments: CD133(+) cells were purified with Immunomagnetic beads from human rectal cancer cell line SW480 cells and annexin V/PI staining was used to determine apoptosis in CD133(+) and CD133(-) cells. In vivo experiments: Transplanted rectal tumor was established in 30 nude mice using primarily established SW480 cells. The tumor cells were divided into CD133-high and CD133-low groups based on the immunohistochemical staining of CD133 expression of the tumor cells. The tumor size after irradiation was recorded every three days.
Results:
CD133(+) cells had a much lower percentage of apoptosis after radiation exposure compared with CD133(-) cells [(12.6 ± 3.2) % vs. (38.8 ± 6.7) %, P < 0.01]. In vivo experiment showed that the normalized tumor size of CD133-high group (3.00 ± 0.32) became significantly larger than that of the CD133-low group(2.55 ± 0.29) at the ninth day and this difference lasted until the observation end (P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
CD133(+) cells have a radioresistant effect on rectal cancer cells and may become a potential therapeutic target in the radiotherapy of rectal cancer.
