| Objective:To assess the expression of cancer stem cells surface marker CD44 and stem cell factor Hiwi in gastric cancer and the association between their expression and clinicopathological features. Moreover, to analyze the correlationship between CD44 and Hiwi in order to explore the possibility of the stem cell factor Hiwi as a cancer stem cells marker. Methods:Immunostaining of CD44 and Hiwi were performed in gastric cancer (100 cases of traditional tissue and 110 cases of tissue microarray) and adjacent normal tissue (40 cases) (Envision two step methods). Results:1) In traditional tissue, the expression of CD44 protein in gastric cancer (positive rate 84.00%) was significantly higher than adjacent normal tissue (positive rate 27.50%) (χ2=41.817, P<0.001).The CD44 expression in gastric cancer was significantly correlated with depth of invasion, lymph involvement and TNM stage(P<0.05), but uncorrelated with other clinical parameters, such as sex, age, tumor diameter and differentiation degree(P>0.05). The expression of Hiwi protein in gastric cancer (positive rate 69.00%) was significantly higher than adjacent normal tissue (positive rate 17.50%)(χ2=30.536, P<0.001).The Hiwi expression in gastric cancer was significantly correlated with tumor diameter, differentiation degree, depth of invasion, lymph involvement and TNM stage (P<0.05), however, its expression uncorrelated with sex and age (P>0.05).2)In tissue microarray, the expression of CD44 protein in gastric cancer (positive rate 57.27%) was significantly higher than adjacent normal tissue(positive rate 27.50%) (χ2=10.108, P<0.01).The expression of CD44 in gastric cancer was significantly correlated with depth of invasion, lymph involvement and TNM stage(P<0.05), but uncorrelated with other clinical parameters, such as sex, age, tumor diameter and differentiation degree(P>0.05).The expression of Hiwi protein in gastric cancer(positive rate 70.00%) was significantly higher than adjacent normal tissue(positive rate 17.50%) (x2=32.812, P<0.001). The expression of Hiwi in gastric cancer was significantly correlated with tumor diameter, differentiation degree, depth of invasion, lymph involvement and TNM stage(P<0.05), but uncorrelated with sex and age (P>0.05).3) The expression of CD44 and Hiwi in traditional tissue pattern was consistent with tissue microarray.4) The expression of CD44 protein and Hiwi protein is significantly positively correlated (traditional tissue:rs= 0.639, P<0.01; tissue microarray:rs= 0.547, P<0.05).Conclusion:1) Expression of CD44 and Hiwi in gastric cancer was associated with poor clinicopathological characters in gastric cancer, suggesting that CD44 and Hiwi could act as the markers to predict the gastric cancer clinical behavior.2) Cancer stem cell marker CD44 and stem cell factor Hiwi significantly positively correlated, indicating that they may act synergistically during tumorigenesis.3) In addition to CD44, Hiwi may be used as a new stem cell marker to separate gastric cancer stem cells. |
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