Prognostic Value of Tumoral Stem Cells in Glioblastoma Immunohistochemical Study of CD133 and HTERT Expression

摘要

OBJECTIVE: To study the prognostic value of CD133 and HTERT immunoexpression in glioblastoma (GB). GBs are the most frequent primary tumors in the central nervous system. According to the tumor stem cell (TSC) theory, the growth, relapse, and therapeutic resistance of GB would be determined by the presence of a TSC subpopulation. It has been proposed that TSCs can be identified by means of immunohistochemistry for CD133. Furthermore, the percentage of TSCs could be an independent factor of poor prognosis; however, some authors have shown that CD133 expression does not correlate with prognosis. TSCs may express other tumor markers, such as HTERT.