CD90 and CD110 correlate with cancer stem cell potentials in human T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2009 May 29;383(2):172-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2009.03.127. Epub 2009 Mar 31.

Abstract

Although cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been recently identified in myeloid leukemia, published data on lymphoid malignancy have been sparse. T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is characterized by the abnormal proliferation of T-cell precursors and is generally aggressive. As CD34 is the only positive-selection marker for CSCs in T-ALL, we performed extensive analysis of CD markers in T-ALL cell lines. We found that some of the tested lines consisted of heterogeneous populations of cells with various levels of surface marker expression. In particular, a small subpopulation of CD90 (Thy-1) and CD110 (c-Mpl) were shown to correlate with stem cell properties both in vitro and in transplantation experiments. As these markers are expressed on hematopoietic stem cells, our results suggest that stem cell-like population are enriched in CD90+/CD110+ fraction and they are useful positive-selection markers for the isolation of CSCs in some cases of T-ALL.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Separation
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Neoplasm Transplantation
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells / pathology*
  • Precursor T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / metabolism
  • Precursor T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / pathology*
  • Receptors, Thrombopoietin / biosynthesis*
  • Thy-1 Antigens / biosynthesis*

Substances

  • Receptors, Thrombopoietin
  • Thy-1 Antigens
  • MPL protein, human