A Subpopulation of CD26 super(+) Cancer Stem Cells with Metastatic Capacity in Human Colorectal Cancer

• Published in: Cell stem cell Vol. 6; no. 6; pp. 603 - 615
• Main Authors: Pang, Roberta, Law, Wai Lun, Chu, Andrew CY, Poon, Jensen T, Lam, Colin SC, Chow, Ariel KM, Ng, Lui, Cheung, Leonard WH, Lan, Xiao R, Lan, Hui Y, Tan, Victoria PY, Yau, Thomas C, Poon, Ronnie T, Wong, Benjamin CY
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 04-06-2010
• ISSN: 1934-5909
• DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2010.04.001

Recent evidence suggests that a subpopulation of cancer cells, cancer stem cells (CSCs), is responsible for tumor growth in colorectal cancer. However, the role of CSCs in colorectal cancer metastasis is unclear. Here, we identified a subpopulation of CD26 super(+) cells uniformly present in both the primary and metastatic tumors in colorectal cancer patients with liver metastasis. Furthermore, in patients without distant metastasis at the time of presentation, the presence of CD26 super(+) cells in their primary tumors predicted distant metastasis on follow-up. Isolated CD26 super(+) cells, but not CD26 super(-) cells, led to development of distant metastasis when injected into the mouse cecal wall. CD26 super(+) cells were also associated with enhanced invasiveness and chemoresistance. Our findings have uncovered a critical role of CSCs in metastatic progression of cancer. Furthermore, the ability to predict metastasis based on analysis of CSC subsets in the primary tumor may have important clinical implication as a selection criterion for adjuvant therapy.