IOVS
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Originally published In Press as doi:10.1167/iovs.08-2356 on November 21, 2008
 (Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 2009;50:1506-1514.)
© 2009 by The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc.
doi:10.1167/iovs.08-2356
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
iovs.08-2356v1
50/4/1506    most recent
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (2)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Balla, M. M. S.
Right arrow Articles by Murthy, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Balla, M. M. S.
Right arrow Articles by Murthy, R.

Phenotypic Characterization of Retinoblastoma for the Presence of Putative Cancer Stem-like Cell Markers by Flow Cytometry

Murali M. S. Balla,1 Geeta K. Vemuganti,1 Chitra Kannabiran,2 Santosh G. Honavar,3 and Ramesh Murthy3

1From the Sudhakar and Sreekanth Ravi Stem Cell Biology Laboratory, the 2Kallam Anji Reddy Molecular Genetics Laboratory, and the 3Ocular Oncology Division, Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation, L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India.

PURPOSE. Retinoblastoma (Rb) is an intraocular tumor that grows rapidly and poses a threat to sight and life. Similar to other tumors, there is increasing speculation that the Rb tumor also contains cancer stem-like cells that could influence the prognosis and response to therapy. This study was undertaken in an attempt to identify putative stem-like cells by characterizing different subpopulations of cells in retinoblastoma.

METHODS. Freshly isolated tumor cells obtained from unfixed eye specimens (n = 7) were analyzed for the presence of CD44, ABCG2, CXCR4, CD133, and CD90 using flow cytometry. RT-PCR was performed to analyze the expression of human Syntaxin1A, PROX1, CD133, and NSE in the sorted subpopulation of tumor cells.

RESULTS. Two different subpopulations of cells were observed in seven samples. The small cells, assigned FSClo/SSClo (forward scatter low/side scatter low, ranging from 1.7% to 17.7%) were characterized as positive for CD44 and negative for CD133, CXCR4, and CD90. The large cells were designated as FSChi/SSClo (ranging from 2.7% to 35.1%) and characterized as positive for all markers. RT-PCR analysis revealed that sorted cells of FSClo/SSClo subpopulation expressed the retinal progenitor cell markers PROX1 and Syntaxin1A.

CONCLUSIONS. Retinoblastoma, on flow cytometric analysis, revealed two distinct subpopulations with variable expression of stem cell and retinal progenitor markers. In these populations, the FSClo/SSClo subpopulation appeared to be more primitive, since they expressed stem cell (CD44) and retinal progenitor markers (PROX1 and Syntaxin 1A) combined with a relatively lower percentage of differentiated markers. Moreover, the FSChi/SSClo subpopulation showed a higher percentage of differentiated markers (CD90 and CD133).






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology