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Updated: Oct 5, 2025
Isolation and Functional Assessment of Human Breast Cancer Stem Cells from Cell and Tissue Samples
Published on: October 2, 2020
Breast cancer stem cell population in different molecular subtypes of breast cancer
Parul Gupta1, Vikram Singh1, Sandeep Kumar1
1Department of Histopathology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India.
Background:
Breast cancer heterogeneity is well documented and to some extent is attributed to the presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Breast cancer stem cells are identified by the presence of cell surface molecule CD44 and absence of CD24.
Methods:
In the present study a flowcytometric analysis was done to study the expression distribution of CSC phenotype of CD44+/CD24-/low, among different molecular subtypes of breast cancer and to find a correlation with clinicopathological features.
Results:
CSCs were observed in all the molecular subtypes of breast cancer. The highest population of CSCs was noted in luminal B (3.4%), followed by TNBC (1.7%), and Her-2 subtype (1.6%). The least number of CD44+/CD24- cells were seen in Luminal A subgroup (1.3%).
Conclusion:
Existence of cancer stem cells in all the subtypes may suggest the possibility of failure of current therapies in treatment of patients.
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