Biological characteristics of a cell subpopulation in tongue squamous cell carcinoma

Oral Diseases (2012) 18 , 169–177 Objectives: To isolate the CD133+CD44+ cells from human tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) Tca8113 cell line and investigate biological characteristics of them. Materials and methods: Immunomagnetic microbeads were applied to sort the CD133+CD44+ cells. Flow cytometry was used to detect isolation purity. The proliferation, clone‐formation efficiencies, invasion and migration, gene expressions, and tumor‐formation abilities were analyzed among CD133+CD44+, CD133?CD44?, and total population of cells. Results: The average purities of CD133+ and CD44+ cells reached 97.3% and 98.7%, respectively. The proliferation of CD133+CD44+ cells was significantly higher than the other two groups. The clone‐forming efficiency of three groups was 70%, 8%, and 14%, respectively. The average invaded and migrated cell numbers of CD133+CD44+ and total population cells were 132 and 36.2, 311.6, and 156.2, respectively. The expressions of Bcl‐2 and Sox2 in CD133+CD44+ cells were significantly higher than those in total population cells. A total of 10⁴ CD133+CD44+ cells could form secondary tumors in nude mice, while the total population group needed 10⁶ cells. Conclusions: The CD133+CD44+ subpopulation cells possess stem‐like characteristics. They appear to be the potential targets for future biology therapy of human TSCC.