Study of Stem Cell Marker Proteins in Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor

Number of studies have shown that tumor biology and resistance to treatment are closely connected to the existence of Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs).Sox2, a stem cell marker belongs to a family of transcription factors that are known to regulate gene expression in normal developmental processes.Sox2 is also pivotal for the maintenance of undifferentiated stem cells.Along with Sox2, other stem cell proteins such as CD133, Olig, and Oct4 are known to have clinical relevance as cancer markers, since they have prominent roles to play in the regulation of pluripotency.Proteins such as cMyc and β-catenin are known to be involved in the regulation of pluripotency.Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumors (AT/RTs) are classified as aggressive CNS embryonal tumors with a dismal prognosis.A characteristic feature of AT/RTs is an aberration of chromosome 22, which results in a loss of the gene SMARCB1.In this study we utilized a flow cytometry to examine the expression of CSC markers in AT/RT cells.Analysis of the cell surface or intracellular expression of CSC markers indicated that Sox2, Oct3/4, cMyc, and β-catenin showed increased expression in AT/RT compared to the control neural stem cells.In order to measure the mRNA profile, qRT-PCR analyses were performed on these cell lines.The mRNA profile however did not always correlate with the CSC marker protein expression profile, but indicates that CSC markers in AT/RT can serve as potential biomarker.