Faithful markers of circulating cancer stem cells: is CD133 sufficient for validation in clinics?

Crea, Francesco; Fornaro, Lorenzo; Masi, Gianluca; Falcone, Alfredo; Danesi, Romano and Farrar, William (2011). Faithful markers of circulating cancer stem cells: is CD133 sufficient for validation in clinics? Journal of Clinical Oncology, 29(25) pp. 3487–3488.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2011.37.0122

Abstract

TO THE EDITOR: We read with great interest the recent article by Iinuma et al published in Journal of Clinical Oncology. The authors describe an innovative strategy to identify circulating cancer stem cells (C-CSCs) from blood samples in patients with radically resected nonmetastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). In particular, the study suggests a prognostic value for the identification of CD133, cytokeratins (CKs) and carcinoembryonicm antigen (CEA) mRNA in selected patients with Dukes’ stage B and C. This large study (which included a validation cohort) could pave the way to better prognostic stratification, ultimately optimizing the use of adjuvant chemotherapy. In addition, similar assays may be more accurate than classical response evaluation criteria when testing cancer stem cell (CSC) –specific therapies in the advanced disease setting, as underlined in the accompanying editorial. As we have recently suggested, CSCspecific assays may constitute the backbone of next-generation pharmacogenomics.

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